


dazzling light

by orphan_account



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirates, Elements of fantasy, Love at First Sight, M/M, Mutual Pining, also includes a treasure, but i'm not telling you who, captain hongjoong, someone is a merman, will add more warnings in the notes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-24 23:35:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 35,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22006294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: When Hongjoong turned 18, his father had given him a map which would lead him to a treasure of endless worth. This is how he finds it, including taking seven strangers on his ship, falling head over heels for one of them and dealing with his jealous ex-boyfriend.
Relationships: Jeong Yunho/Kim Hongjoong
Comments: 12
Kudos: 96





	1. the beginning

**Author's Note:**

> \- i started this on halloween 2019, and while i loved writing this i'm glad it's done now. if you're following me on twitter, you will be happy to hear from now on i'll stop whining about the process of producing… this.  
> \- i'll add warnings at the beginning of each chapter, so if you want to skip my unnecessary commentary on every sentence, just look out for 'warnings' in bold.  
> \- first of, i know this is an ateez story and features all of them, but yunho and hongjoong are kind of the main focus here, so i'm sorry if the others didn't get as much time to shine :-(  
> \- also no spoilers but i made seonghwa kind of look like a bad guy with a stick up his ass but i swear i love him the most  
> \- if something doesn't make sense or is unclear just ask me because i have no idea if i was able to get the plot i had sketched out in my head into words so that other people could also understand it  
> \- i divided this into 3 parts and if you're reading this, then i've finished everything, and i'm either currently editing the rest or sleeping  
> \- this is the first time posting something 'huge' like this, so feedback would be greatly appreciated (but be nice pls)  
> \- i obviously don’t own any characters in here, or we‘d have the wonderland halloween ver. on spotify by now  
> \- I'm also not an expert on the period of pirates, and i'm not ashamed to admit that most of the inspirations that don't have to do with the main plot come from the pirates of the caribbean movies  
> \- now, i read the first chapter so often to minimise the mistakes and errors that i can't look at it anymore, so i'm leaving it to you to find the remaining ones. enjoy reading!
> 
>  **warnings:**  
>  \- some background stories are kind of dark (including death or low-key high-key toxic parent-child-relationships)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> their stories, how they get together and Foreshadowing.

The first time Hongjoong made contact with the word pirate was when he was fourteen years old, a prepubertal teen with more trouble than anything else in his head. On his way home from playing with his friends at the beach, he overheard two men talking about a pirate attack in a harbour not far away. True to his curious nature, which was a curse and blessing at the same time, he stopped in his tracks to listen to the conversation. The men didn’t even seem to register him.

“They attacked the city when it was getting darker so the port guards couldn’t spot them. They went into every house they could reach, taking everything they could find—including the women. But before they got caught, they were already gone and the city was burning,” said one of them. He sounded furious as if he was close to jumping onto the next ship to find the pirate crew and make them pay for their crimes.

“I just don’t get why they’re doing what they’re doing,” said the other one, clearly the calmer and more reasonable one of the two. “Why would you give up your life and family to become a pirate? I mean what is it worth living off of stealing other people’s belongings and being on a constant run from the law?”

“I don’t care what made these bastards become what they are right now,” the first man said through gritted teeth. “I only care about that if they’ll ever attack this place, I’ll make sure they’ll regret it.”

Then they turned their heads towards young Hongjoong. “You wouldn’t do things like that, would you? You’re a fine young man, right, Hongjoong?”

Hongjoong nodded quickly. They laughed and ruffled his hair before sending him off and telling him to tell his mother they said hello. Then Hongjoong was alone with his thoughts. He couldn’t stop thinking about what he had just found out. Something unfamiliar coiled in his stomach, and he clenched his fist. How dared they attacking a city with innocent people out of the blue? Were they doing it for fun? Or had they lost all sense of morality that they didn’t even _realise_ how wrong it was?

When he told his mother about it, she looked at him with an expression he couldn’t decipher. Maybe it was pity or sadness? She patted his shoulder and told him to always listen to both sides before hastily jumping to conclusions. Hongjoong didn’t know what she meant, why would he want to consider the Pirates’ side, the _bad_ side? They did wrong things just for the kick and he was sure there wasn’t anything that would change his mind and sympathise with such people.

Two days later, Hongjoong’s father came home to visit his family. Hongjoong didn’t know a lot about his job or why he sometimes wasn’t home for months—his father told him he’d explain it to him when he’d be older. The only thing he knew was that he spent most of his time on a ship with a crew, so when his father wasn’t home, he stared out into the sea and imagined his father fighting bad people and protecting the harbour.

“Dad, are you fighting against pirates?” Hongjoong asked as soon as his father walked through the door. His father just laughed at Hongjoong’s eagerness, ruffling through his hair and smiling down at him. Hongjoong didn’t miss the look his mother gave his father as they leaned in for a kiss.

“So?” Hongjoong asked again, visibly vibrating with giddiness.

“Why would I fight the pirates?” his father asked in return, setting his suitcase on the ground.

“Because they’re the bad ones,” Hongjoong answered, with a self-assured smile.

“And who told you that?”

“The two men talked about pirates attacking a city out of nowhere and stealing everything. Even women!” Hongjoong added, even though he didn’t know what it meant. Why would you steal people?

“The city was rich with gold that wasn’t theirs, so it wasn’t stealing from the pirates’ side,” his father said calmly, though the smile had worn off.

It took Hongjoong two more years until he figured out the real profession of his father. He was a pirate, a captain at that, as his mother told him one day. He had one of the finest crews and an even finer ship. When he was gone for a while, he was carrying out orders from the governor. Sometimes that meant fighting other pirates, sometimes finding treasures before another country would, and sometimes he also stole from other cities if the governor ordered it.

It took Hongjoong another couple of months before he came around. There were worse things than having a dad who was a fulltime pirate.

His father wasn’t there for his 18th birthday, but he had made sure Hongjoong would get his present either way. It was a map of the sea that Hongjoong couldn’t read and a letter. Nothing else. Hongjoong was disappointed, to say the least. A few days later, they received the message that his father had been killed during one of his missions.

///

Seonghwa smoothes over the non-existent wrinkles on his cadet’s uniform, looking at himself in the mirror. Today will mark his first day at the Royal Navy and in just a few hours, the ship will leave the port. He steps out of his room and into the dining room where his parents are already sitting, a maid pouring tea into their waiting cups.

When they hear his footsteps, their heads shoot up. His mother breaks out into a smile and rushes onto her feet to inspect her son closer. She traces the blue fabric with her fingers, carefully, as if she will ruin the perfect look otherwise. “You look so good, Seonghwa. I’m so incredibly proud of you,” she says quietly and takes his face in her hands. Seonghwa sees tears in her eyes, and he leans down to hug her, muttering a _thank you_ into her ear. When he pulls away, he looks at his father, who’s looking at him with the same scrutinising, analysing, _disappointed_ look he has for Seonghwa’s entire life. “The jacket doesn’t fit,” is all he says, before he devotes himself to his tea, taking a sip. Immediately he calls for the maid, telling her the tea isn’t exactly as it should be. Seonghwa wonders if he’ll fire her today, which would set a new record. She’d only been serving them for a month.

“Don’t worry, it fits perfectly,” his mother assures him as she ushers him to his place. “Thanks, mother,” Seonghwa says emotionlessly. He doesn’t know why he thought today would be any different. Like an idiot, he’d been waiting for his father to tell him he was proud of him, as if he doesn’t know it’s impossible to satisfy his father. He is known for his good manners and looks all around the town that the wealthiest families wanted him to be the groom of their children—it’s like his father doesn’t know. He gets perfect grades in school—not even a nod. And now he’s pursuing his father’s plans for him and all he can do is yell at the servant for ruining his tea. Seonghwa wants to hit something but he knows that will just make it worse.

“When will you leave?” his mother asks, in order to break the stiff silence that dominates the table.

“I have to be there two hours earlier, so I will leave in approximately one hour,” Seonghwa replies. His father raises his head to look at his son and Seonghwa makes sure to straighten his back and tip his chin up.

“Do you not think two hours earlier is irresponsible? I suggest you leave as soon as possible,” he says, his cold eyes boring into Seonghwa’s soul.

Seonghwa runs his tongue over his teeth, trying really hard to not lose his temper and jump at his old man’s throat like he’d wanted to all his life. “Why, do you want to get rid of me, Sir?” Seonghwa does his best to keep the telling shaking out of his voice.

“I am simply hoping the Navy will make someone out of you I can be proud of, and the sooner you get there, the better,” his father shoots back, no longer trying to conceal the utter disgust he feels for the young man in front of him.

Seonghwa decides right now wouldn’t be a good time to commit a crime, not when he was about to become a Cadet of the Navy, so he excuses himself and rushes upstairs to get his things so that he can finally leave the place he had been dreading for 19 years. He hears his mother running after him so he doesn’t slam the door like he would have to set his father off.

“You know he doesn’t mean it...,” she tries but Seonghwa interrupts her.

“He means it, and we both know that,” his voice is stern, any trace of emotion or vulnerability gone. “It was stupid of me to think he would react differently today.”

“It is never stupid to hope, Seonghwa. Never lose hope, it’s what makes us human,” his mother tells him. She takes his hands, momentarily hindering him from packing his things, and makes him look at her. She doesn’t comment on the tears in her son’s eyes as she looks at him with adoration and pride.

Seonghwa doesn’t need a lot of personal belongings on the ship. He packs a few books, ink and paper to write letters home. His mother hands him an envelope with money and Seonghwa takes it gratefully. She makes him promise to write her as often as possible, and Seonghwa lets her know he would have done it either way. When he walks down the staircase for the last time in a while, he doesn’t spare his father a second look. His mother hugs him close, this time there’s tears in her eyes again, telling him how proud she is. And then he’s out of the door, starting a new chapter in his life, leaving the dark ones behind.

He isn’t the only novice on the ship, by far. Cadets, ages reaching from sixteen to pushing thirty, are standing obediently on the deck, waiting for the official greeting by the Captain. They stand there, uniforms fitting perfectly, their heels pushed together and their looks straight ahead.

The Captain seems to be an easy-going guy. He tells the Cadets to stand comfortably as he smiles at them. He doesn’t look that old either and Seonghwa is glad he won’t have to serve an old man because he knows he would have just been reminded of his own father. They get their assigned quarters and Seonghwa is lucky to have one of the less crowded ones, sharing with only two others. They’re both younger than him, seem a little over the place, joking the whole time, but Seonghwa doesn’t mind at all.

///

Wooyoung is sure his best friend is by far the most special one, both objectively and subjectively speaking. Sure, he’s heard all kinds of stories about extraordinary people, but being friends with merman definitely beats that.

He first met San when they were teenagers. Wooyoung spent most of his childhood by the shore, mostly alone. Sometimes, he forgot he had to be home by sunset as he just stared into the distance, the waves collecting as glittering foam around his ankles as he wondered if there was a world behind the horizon. And that’s when he’d seen San. The moonlight dancing on his pale skin, creating a shine that made him look otherworldly. Wooyoung waved at him, the extrovert he was, and San waved back, albeit shy and Wooyoung thought he saw a smile there. Wooyoung took sure steps towards him; till this day he doesn’t know what had overcome him that night. And before San could duck away and swim off into the ocean, he saw the red tail attached to San’s torso where legs would have been to be expected.

San’s expression was nothing but fear, his eyes big and round as he waited for the other boy to say or do something. But Wooyoung wasn’t creeped out or afraid of the creature in front of him, and he slowly stretched out his arm, “Can I touch it?”

Ever since that day, they had been inseparable. As it turned out, San was able to shift between his forms, so it wasn’t hard for Wooyoung to get his family to adopt the other boy. When he told his parents that San grew up alone after his family died in an accident, he wasn’t lying per se, he was just leaving out the fact that his family was, in fact, a swarm of merpeople and the accident involved two sharks attacking them. San still had an ugly scar on his back from the accident.

Every now and then, San needs to shift back into his merman form, but apart from that, he accustomed very well to the culture of humans. If Wooyoung’s parents had been doubtful about the quiet boy their son had brought with them, they soon realised that that night, Wooyoung had found his soul mate in San, and they knew better to get between them.

///

It doesn’t take Seonghwa long to get used to the Navy life. His training mostly consists of carrying out duties like wiping the deck or helping the chef prepare the meals. The ship he’s working on is a cargo ship and it helps the trade between the harbours by transporting cargo from one place to the other or back. He doesn’t dare to call it boring, though. He knows what he’s experiencing is a huge privilege that a lot of people can only dream of, and he knows it’s his father’s doing that he gets to be part of such an important crew. His father had always used his money to get what he wanted.

After the two months on the cargo ship, he decides he has found what he wants to do for a living. So he applies for several training programmes, not informing his father about it. In fact, since he’s left home, his mother was the only one sending him letters from time to time, and Seonghwa can’t say he misses his father. Time flies and before he knows the crew addresses him as Lieutenant Park.

The day that will change his life forever starts just like every day before it. He wakes up in his quarters, the early sun rays tickling his skin and he gets up. He’s on the way to a port three weeks away from home with important cargo that he isn’t classified to know about. There are rumours that there’s tonnes of gold in the chests secured with three locks.

They sail the whole day, but when the sun starts to set, he notices a storm coming up. His Captain informs him about an island on their course where they could dock at for the night to not risk getting any damage done to the cargo. Seonghwa informs the crew, and before the last sun rays disappear to make place for the stars and moon, they safely arrive at the port.

The island, as it appears, is full of drunk sailors and women. The only houses seem to be bars, and there are people tumbling about, babbling before passing out or throwing up. Seonghwa wrinkles his nose as a drunk man barely misses his shiny boots and he quickly walks on, looking for a place to eat where he won’t have to fear getting vomit all over his uniform. The crew dissolves in the large crowd, the younger crewmen undoubtedly hopping into the closest bar they can find. Seonghwa smiles to himself but doesn’t stop them. Spending weeks on a ship with the same people and endless masses of water surrounding it does that to you.

He does manage to find a decent place to eat save for the endless offers to have ‘some fun’. Seonghwa, who is not one for meaningless nights spent with strangers, declines politely and says there’s someone waiting for him home. When the answer is that _someone_ won’t know, Seonghwa just shakes his head and wishes them luck on their further search.

It’s late when he makes his way back to the ship. Originally, he had wanted to rent a place in one of the hostels, but after having seen the state of the island and realising that its only purpose is getting drunk, he finds that his quarter sounds a lot more agreeable. He leaves the bars behind him and that’s when he sees people on his ship. Seonghwa clicks his tongue when he sees the cadets have forgotten to light the petrol lamps on the deck again and internally prepares his monologue to scold them.

Suddenly, he’s grabbed by his arm and hauled to the side, behind another ship, losing sight of his own.

“What the—,” he starts but a hand closes over his mouth. His eyes widen.

Judging by the angle of the hand on his mouth, the person seems to be smaller than him, and the years spent training for the Navy has taught him to defend himself rather well. Seonghwa flexes his muscles and prepares his body to launch a punch into the stranger’s torso.

“Be quiet, Seonghwa,” the person, a man, says and the blood in Seonghwa’s body freezes as he’s caught off guard. Who is this person and how does he know his name? “I’ll remove my hand and if you make any sound I’m gonna shoot you.”

Seonghwa can only nod, not moving a single limb and the hand slowly lowers itself, and he forgets all about his plan to free himself from the person behind him. He turns around, carefully, actually scared to tick off the other person. The man in front of him is, as assumed, smaller than him by a lot. He wears rather messy clothes, but Seonghwa has seen worse during his short stay in one of the restaurants, and he slowly raises his gaze, mustering the stranger. There’s a sabre and a pistol dangling on the man’s belt, as well as a compass. He has the sleeves of his dirty white shirt rolled up, revealing two strong arms. When he takes in the man’s face, he’s speechless before he stammers out, “H-Hongjoong?”

The other man nods in affirmation. “The one and only,” he agrees and smiles. “It’s been a while.”

Seonghwa can only stare at him in shock.

“I saw you arriving with your crew here earlier but I didn’t get to say hello until now,” Hongjoong says.

Seonghwa rubs his face and runs through his hair, a habit he’s developed whenever he’s nervous. “Hongjoong what are you doing here? Why did you pull me away? What is _happening_ right now?”

Hongjoong laughs breathily. “I’m probably here for the same reason as you are, avoiding the storm,” he explains.

There’s an uncomfortable silence as they both wait for the other say something and end up speaking up at the same time.

“So you stayed in the Navy,” is what Hongjoong says, while Seonghwa mutters a, “So you’re still a pirate.”

“Are you still looking for the treasure?” Seonghwa asks him and Hongjoong has the audacity to flee his gaze. Seonghwa has always blamed the treasure for the downfall of their relationship, but they both know it’s more than that. They just weren’t meant to be.

“I am, but it’s difficult.”

Another silence lies between them and Seonghwa feels like he’s going insane. “Why did you drag me here?” he asks, just for the sake of _saying_ anything.

Hongjoong is just staring at him and Seonghwa feels reminded of old times where Hongjoong would fixate his gaze on something while he was miles away with his thoughts. “You still look the same,” he mutters out.

“ _Hongjoong_ ,” Seonghwa says sternly, and the familiarity of it all is almost painful.

Hongjoong shakes his head to reorganise his thoughts. “Right, yes, about the manhandling-you-thing.” He clears his throat and motions to Seonghwa’s ship. “Those men you see there? They’re scavengers stealing your cargo,” he says, his arm flying out to grab Seonghwa to keep him from running to his ship and defend the unknown goods. “They’ve killed seven crewmen including higher-ranking officers.” Hongjoong doesn’t remove his arm from Seonghwa and gently rubs his shoulder. “I’m sorry,” he says quietly. For a moment, Seonghwa lets himself indulge in the feeling of having Hongjoong touch him after oh-so-long and doesn’t swat his hand away.

“How long have you been watching them?” the older asks. Hongjoong seems to be pulled back from his trance and pulls his hand away like he’s been burned. “I was on my way to my own ship when I saw them moving towards yours. It’s been fifteen minutes at most.”

“And did you stop them from going up there? The other crewmen,” Seonghwa pries further and Hongjoong shakes his head. There’s an underlying _why_ in the air but Seonghwa never asks questions whose answers he knows he won’t like.

Seonghwa runs his hand through his hair again and he puffs out air as he tries to figure out what to do. Slowly, he sinks to his knees and sits down on the wooden planks of the footbridge. For the first time in a while, he doesn’t care about the appearance of his uniform. His legs dangle off the edge and he’s staring into the pitch-black water. “I wonder how they knew what we were carrying. I mean, the Captain was the only one who knew about the exact contents of the boxes, not even I did, and I’m the second in command.”

Hongjoong sits down next to him. “Maybe it was a lucky guess,” he tries, but Seonghwa shakes his head. “I don’t think so. There’s a lot more ships here that look like they’re containing very rare and expensive goods. There are ships specially designed for important missions, but the Captain refused to use one of them, to stay low-key and not attract attention,” he explains. “There’s more to it.”

That’s when Hongjoong says what’s been going through their heads the entire time. “Someone must have tipped them off.”

Seonghwa stays silent and the puzzle pieces fall together. The way the Captain had refused to tell anyone about the mission, the way he had insisted on staying behind as the others went to find a place to spend the night. The storm must have just been a convenient excuse to dock on this island.

The worst part about it is that it doesn’t even surprise Seonghwa. He’s heard enough stories about officers making deals with pirates or other thieves, motivated by the sheer want of money. He’s been serving long enough to make out the true intentions of an officer and now he regrets not having trusted his gut feeling when the Captain had shaken his hand on the first day. It isn’t an exaggeration to say half of the Navy is corrupt, and it disgusts Seonghwa. But he’s also never done anything about it, merely hoping he’d serve as a good example the Cadets and younger officers would look up to instead.

In front of them, the ship goes up in flames, burning all evidence for the treason and the truth with it. Some people that aren’t too wasted to make out the burning ship come to help and try to put out the fire. Seonghwa just stares into the flames, calm.

“What do you want to do now?” Hongjoong asks and he sounds unsure.

Seonghwa weighs his options. He could ask one of the sailors here to take him and remaining crew with him home, knowing the Navy would pay the sailor generously. Right now, however, he has problems trusting anyone that isn’t himself, and he’s not sure if he’d be able to put his fate into someone from this island. Or he could wait here for rescue, hoping the Navy would realise that something was wrong quickly enough so they’d send another ship. Both options don’t sound too pleasing.

In response to Seonghwa’s telling silence, Hongjoong speaks up again. “Come with me.”

Seonghwa almost falls from the bridge. “Excuse me?”

“What’s keeping you here, Seonghwa? Your Captain turned out to be making deals with pirates and betraying everything your holy Navy stands for, and you can’t tell me he’s an individual case. We both know how corrupt everyone is.” Hongjoong pauses theatrically to let the words sink in. “It will take weeks for someone to notice that something’s wrong, and then it takes even longer for their ship to arrive here. So, just come with me.”

“And why I exactly would I come with you, Hongjoong, a _pirate_ ? Wouldn’t that make me just as bad as my Captain?” Seonghwa bites back, and his whole body is trembling.

Hongjoong snorts and Seonghwa knows he’s irritated. He’s always been whenever Seonghwa made a bad comment on pirates, and Seonghwa never understood him, still doesn’t. “A deserter is different from a traitor,” he says wistfully. “When you were young you’ve always wanted to explore the world.”

This time, it’s Seonghwa who snorts. “What are we, five? Don’t you think we’re past the age where we chase our dreams? For your information, the Navy has given me plenty of occasions to ‘explore the world’. We’re both adults and we both have made our own choices.” With that, he gets up and dusts off his pants. “It was nice seeing you again, Hongjoong, it really was. I just wish it would have been under different circumstances. Goodbye.”

He stalks off and leaves Hongjoong sitting by the water, unquestionably staring into the distance again.

He squeezes himself through the masses, desperately looking for the rest of his crew. He doesn’t even know who made it. The Cadets are probably still alive as they’ve been otherwise occupied when shit had gone down. His mind is running at maximum speed and he elbows himself through the masses. Distantly, he can hear a man slurring obscenities at him, probably because Seonghwa had rammed his underarm into his solar plexus. Seonghwa wishes he would care.

Suddenly, there’s someone pulling his arm again and dragging him into the space between two neighboured houses. Seonghwa is fuming when he whips his head around to see Hongjoong standing in front of him. _Again_.

“Will you _stop_ doing that?” he barks and hits Hongjoong’s hand where it was grabbing the sleeve of his shirt.

“Take off your jacket,” Hongjoong says simply. Seonghwa sees something distressed sparkling in his eyes and he keeps turning his head to see if anyone can see them.

“ _Excuse me_.” It takes Seonghwa a lot of self-control to not raise his fist and hit Hongjoong square across his beautiful face.

“Seonghwa for once in your life listen to what I say.” Hongjoong is completely serious and stern, and Seonghwa can hear the urgency in his voice.

“You’ve always been the one who never listened to anything I’ve said,” Seonghwa drawls, glaring at the other one with the coldest glare he can muster.

Hongjoong rolls his eyes and clicks his tongue. “That’s not true but that’s beside the point. Take off your jacket, _please._ “

“Why would I? It’s over and we both agreed on that,” Seonghwa continues.

“God, I’m not trying to. . . _do_ anything with you.” Hongjoong has a scandalised look on his face as he meets Seonghwa’s eyes as if the thought of getting intimate alone would give him chills. Seonghwa feels hurt. “There’s the pirates from before causing trouble. If they saw you in your uniform they’d do God knows what to you. So _please_ , take off your jacket,” Hongjoong pleads this time. Seonghwa realises the urgency he had thought to hear in his voice is actually worry and Seonghwa can’t exactly express how that makes him feel.

Despite the chaos in his heart which threatens to leap out of his chest any second, Seonghwa does as he’s told. He also rubs dirt over his white dress shirt for good measure. When Hongjoong reaches up to tousle up Seonghwa’s neatly made hair, Seonghwa feels the weird pang in his chest again. All this time, he’d thought he’d gotten over Hongjoong, and here he is now, the smallest actions making him want to turn back the time and undo what he’d done back then.

“That’ll do,” Hongjoong mumbles more to himself than Seonghwa, and he completely misses what Seonghwa is going through right now. He really hasn’t changed, Seonghwa muses.

The jacket gets discarded on the dirty floor and Seonghwa’s heart only weeps after it for a moment. He decides it symbolises the end of his career at the Navy. This evening had been the last straw and now he’s going to start his next chapter.

Hongjoong’s plan works, as much as Seonghwa hates to admit it. No one spares them a second look as they make their way through the crowd. There’s a large mass of people standing around one of the houses. Seonghwa is tall enough to look over their heads, and he sees the group of pirates running around, threatening other people to tell them where ‘they are’. He’s sure they’re looking for the rest of the crew, to properly erase all evidence that the mission ever existed. Seonghwa has to admit, his Captain did have an eye for detail when he was creating his plan to royally fuck over his crew.

“Where’s your ship?” asks Seonghwa and Hongjoong’s face lights up like a child’s on Christmas. “Follow me.”

///

Dirty. Yeosang’s feeling dirty, both literally and figuratively as he’s waiting for rich people to toss him a few coins where he’s sitting by the street in his unwashed clothes and his hands cupped. It’s not like he doesn’t register the looks he’s getting from the wealthy people as they make a beeline in order to be not too close to him, but living on the streets for a long time has taught him to not let them get to him. He’s got other things to worry about, for example where he’s supposed to get breakfast today.

His opportunity doesn’t come that much later. An elderly man walks past him, not even bothering to acknowledge Yeosang asking for some money, accentuated by a pout and round, watery eyes—that trick usually does it. A woman, presumably his wife, is walking next to him, her arm hooked into his elbow. She is carrying groceries in one hand, a bread loaf peeking out from the bag. Yeosang realises his opportunity and takes it. He gets up, looking around but no one seems to pay him any mind, and he sneaks up on the couple. In one swift and well-trained motion, he takes the bread looking out so invitingly and pulls it out. He realises too late that it’s bigger than he had thought originally, but he doesn’t have it in him to care. If they had just given him a bit of money, they wouldn’t be in this situation, so, technically, it’s their fault, right?

As soon as it’s safe in his hands, he turns around and sprints away. He may be thin and lanky with his sharp collarbones, but he’s had enough training to be able to sprint fast. He hears the man shouting after him, calling him names and cursing his whole family, but his wife calms him down and lets Yeosang run away. When he’s gotten far enough, he slows down and calms his racing heart; even though he’s living off of stealing food and money and it’s normal for him to be greedy and always beg for things, his body never misses out on pumping adrenaline all throughout his body and it always takes a lot of time to ebb away. He should be used to committing crimes on a daily by now, but he’s sure he never will.

He leans against a stone wall and tries to breathe evenly. The bread is still warm and he smiles to himself as he pushes his greasy hair back. The first bite is heavenly; the smell evades his nose and his taste buds hadn’t had the honour to taste something as good as this in a long time. Maybe Yeosang is exaggerating, but he hasn’t had a proper meal in a long time and then some, so he’s allowed to.

He sits down on the sidewalk and practically devours the bread, hungry and greedy. If he hadn’t been experiencing an out of body experience by the taste alone, he would have told himself to slow down to not upset his empty stomach, but he is, alas he finishes it in record time. He sighs deeply and savours the feeling of having something in his stomach for once. He knows it’s unhealthy for his body to go so long without barely anything to eat and having to digest so much at once, but if there’s one thing Yeosang’s learned during his life on the streets, it’s that he should take and treasure everything he can get before it can get taken away from him.

He lets his stomach rumble and gurgle as he rests by the wall. As usual, no one pays him any notice, and he feels invisible. Being unseen by everyone, as if he’s a ghost, is another thing he will never grow accustomed to either. He’s had another life before this one, one with friends and family and he got noticed by lots of people, thank you very much. Living as he does now has made him realise how shallow people are, how shallow he himself used to be, too. Because he knows for sure, he wouldn’t have paid a boy like him a second look either, simply judging by his appearance.

Yeosang sees the market nearby, so it must be Thursday. Sometimes he’s lucky and can grab an apple if he’s quick enough and the lady behind the desk decides a homeless boy like him is not worth running after.

He walks up to the market, ignoring the boring looks people from all directions give him. He knows he doesn’t fit here, but he doesn’t understand why other people think it’s their business to judge him so openly. Slowly strolling past the stalls with the red and green apples that look so perfect they could be drawings and stretches his hand out. He’s got an apple in his hand—a red one—and just as he thinks everything had gone smoothly, there’s someone calling out for him. “Hey, you! Put that back immediately!” It must be a guard looking for troublemakers like him, but Yeosang wouldn’t know. As soon as he hears the voice he turns around and sprints away, out of reflex, because running away is his answer to everything.

On his flight from the guard who seems to be a very determined one, he regrets having eaten all of that bread. It lays heavy in his stomach and he’s starting to feel sick. Lucky for him, he knows his city like the back of his head, and he’s able to get rid of the guard by taking a few unexpected turns. He halts as he reaches a dead, turns around to see if he’s still being followed, realises he isn’t and passes out.

When Yeosang regains consciousness, there are two figures hovering above him. They’re blocking the sun alas he can’t see their faces, but he sees they’re talking. It takes a few more moments for his hearing to kick back in, and it turns out they’d been talking to him.

“...hear me? Hello, can you hear me? How many fingers am I holding up?” one of them, the taller one, says and he holds up his fore- and middle finger.

“Who are you?” Yeosang asks instead and tries sitting up. He blinks a few times, to realise he’s still where he passed out, sitting in the dirt, so he hadn’t been captured by anyone. He winces as he tastes a slight trace of vomit in his mouth.

“I’m Hongjoong and this is Seonghwa,” explains the other one. “We found you here, passed out and we thought you were dead.”

“’ve heard worse,” Yeosang mumbles in return. At his attempt to stand up, Hongjoong leaps forward and keeps him from doing so. Mere seconds later, Yeosang is glad he did, because his head starts spinning immediately. Hongjoong crouches next to him and he presses his palm to Yeosang’s forehead to take his temperature. What he feels doesn’t seem to be pleasing to him.

“What’s your name?” Seonghwa asks. Yeosang notices how he’s standing further away from them, with his arms crossed and a look on his face Yeosang can’t read.

“Yeosang.”

“Nice to meet you, Yeosang,” Hongjoong says gently and shoots Yeosang a smile.

Yeosang inspects them closer. Hongjoong wears worn-out clothes, not as bad his own ones, with high black boots and a sword secured on his belt. Seonghwa, on the other hand, wore a simple white, dirty shirt and blue dress pants with the symbol of the Royal Navy embroidered on it. Yeosang burns to find out more about them.

“What are you doing here? Do you live here?” Yeosang asks.

“No, we, uh...,” Hongjoong trailed off, an embarrassed smile as he looks up to Seonghwa for help.

“We were running away from the guards because one of them realised Hongjoong is a pirate,” Seonghwa helps, but it obviously isn’t what Hongjoong had hoped for, judging by the heated glare he sends him. “I’m not a pirate, by the way. I wasn’t the one who got chased by the law.”

Yeosang shrugs. “I don’t care,” he says curtly. “pirate or not, it doesn’t matter. Besides, I was being chased down by a guard as well, so no judgement from me here.”

“Why?” Hongjoong wants to know.

“I stole an apple,” replies Yeosang, very well aware of the banality of it all. Guessing from the way their eyebrows shoot up, they share his opinion. Suddenly, Seonghwa takes a step to the side and kneels down. Yeosang recognises the apple, the cause for all this, cleans it off on his shirt and hands it to Yeosang. Yeosang peers up at him through his lashes, intimidated, but Seonghwa offers him a gentle smile.

Hongjoong makes himself apparent by almost falling over in his crouching position. Yeosang breaks the eye contact because he’s honestly trying to not to laugh. He takes the apple and shoots Seonghwa a small smile back.

“It was, uh, nice knowing you, Yeosang,” Hongjoong says awkwardly and he gets up. “We have to go now. Please take care of yourself and don’t cause too much trouble.”

“Do you really want to leave him here?” Seonghwa asks in a hushed voice. “He could die if he’s alone like this.”

“Do you want me to just adopt him? Maybe he’s got family who’s waiting for him at home,” Hongjoong responds.

Yeosang clears his throat. “You do realise I can hear you, right?” Their expressions are priceless. “And I could help you avoid the guards, so _you_ won’t get in trouble.”

Seonghwa doesn’t let Hongjoong think about the offer and nods his head. “Very good idea, Yeosang. Lead the way.” Hongjoong sighs dramatically but helps Yeosang get up anyways.

“There is a stock room for spare uniforms close to us,” explains Yeosang. “If we get there without getting caught, we could change into the uniforms and no one will notice us.” He peeks around the corner to make sure the way is clear before he signals the two others to follow him.

///

“So, what are you in for?” the young man Yunho’s sharing a cell with asks. They haven’t been in here for too long. Well, Yunho hasn’t been, at least. He doesn’t know how long the other has had to spend his precious time in this dirty cell, with a small window higher up on the wall. It smells awful in the cell block because no one ever bothers to clean up before a new person gets arrested. From the window, he can see people walking around—or rather he can see their feet, and it’s humiliating to be this low.

“It was a misunderstanding,” Yunho says, not up to explicating his statement further. He still doesn’t know if he can trust the other man.

The other one, oblivious to Yunho’s distrust in him, laughs in a way that makes his eyes curve up into crescents, and he pats on the floor next to him. “You can tell me, I won’t judge you for it,” he promises, and Yunho wonders why exactly he wouldn’t be judged for it, considering he was in _prison._

“I’m serious, I really didn’t do anything,” Yunho insists, and despite himself, he sits next to the other one, leaning against the cold stone wall as he lets out a deep sigh. “The police came into the bar asking if there was a ‘Jeong Yunho’, and me, being the respectable citizen I am, I told them it was me.” He hears a snort next to him but carries on. “It was only until they read out the accusations in front of _everyone_ they realised that they had been looking for a ‘Jeon Yunoh’. But of course, they didn’t believe me when I said it wasn’t me, and that’s how I landed here.” Yunho sighs another time, hitting his head against the wall a couple of times. “I’ve never done anything wrong in my life.” Well, that isn’t completely true. He had done a few, let’s say questionable, things like stealing from people and disobeying direct orders from the police. But nothing he ever did comes close to what this Jeon Yunoh had done.

“So, you _are_ serious,” says the man next to him with unhidden amazement.

“I’ve been telling you, uh. . . ,” Yunho hesitates.

“Mingi, my name’s Mingi.”

“Well, _Mingi_ , I’ve been telling you the whole time I was falsely arrested.” He lets a smile creep up his face at the blinding grin Mingi directs at him. “Why are you here, though?” Momentarily, Mingi’s face falls, before he puts up a smile again. Yunho can see through him and he realises it’s faked.

“Don’t freak out—”

“ _I won’t judge you for it_ ,” Yunho says, mocking Mingi’s tone from earlier.

Mingi runs his tongue over his teeth and fake-glares at Yunho before he continues. “I’ve been part of a pirate crew until recently. The Royal Navy had been on our tail, and I sacrificed myself for them which made me the only one arrested. They’re probably somewhere, having drinks, without thinking of rescuing me.” Yunho notices the bitter tone in Mingi’s voice, who had been nothing but cheerful the entire time. He decided not to pry on Mingi’s relationship with his crew, and instead, he asks, “So you’re a pirate?”

Mingi laughs, happy Yunho doesn’t ask him any embarrassing questions. “Well, technically, I’m an unemployed one. Once I’m out here, I’ll probably look for another Captain to work for,” he tells him. Yunho doesn’t voice out his wondering if Mingi would ever be able to get out of here; he figures Mingi has been thinking about it often enough, and he doesn’t need Yunho reminding him.

Yunho nods wistfully. “Being a pirate sounds amazing. When I was a boy, I always wanted to become one, but I guess, as I grew up, so did my dreams, and that’s why I became a tailor, just like my father before me.”

They suddenly hear footsteps. Yunho immediately jumps to his feet, just in case a guard is coming down so that he can ask them to let him out. He sees three people coming down; two guards and a man between them that looks like he’s getting arrested.

Bingo.

“Sirs, will you please look over my case again? There was a misunderstanding, and I don’t want to sit here in this cell for any longer,” he says as politely as he can. Mingi makes an offended noise.

The two guards share a nervous look before one of them, the taller, broader one, speaks up. “I will have the issue passed on to one of our officers.”

“Why can’t you take care of it right now?” Yunho protests, his bottom lip jutting out without him noticing. “I _really_ don’t want to stay here.”

Tall One opens his mouth again, but the other one falls in his words. “We’re not actual officers, sorry,” he says and shrugs. “We’re just pretending to be to get to his ship without getting noticed.” He nods his head to the third person between the two of them, and when Yunho looks at him, he feels as though the air had been punched out of his lungs. The man, the shortest of the three, is clad into something that could be described as pirate attire; a long coat, black boots and the hat being telltale signs of what he is. His hair definitely needs a trim, too, but when he looks into his eyes, that hold so much, he can’t stop staring. It’s like an invisible force is pulling Yunho closer and closer into the unknown man’s orbit.

Mingi clears his throat behind him and Yunho is pulled out of his haze. He notices a faint blush on the smaller man’s cheeks, and he hopes his own ears haven’t turned red.

“Then why are you here, exactly?” Mingi asks the three.

“Well, you see, there’s a lot of trouble going on upstairs, with like, lots of other officers, and we were scared they’d realise we’re not really part of the Navy, that’s why we decided to stay here and wait till it’s all clear,” the smaller ‘guard’ explains. Tall One doesn’t seem to be delighted by how much of their plan he’s revealing but his glares get ignored. That seems to be normal for their dynamics, though, Yunho supposes. “Oh, and I’m Yeosang, and these are Seonghwa and Hongjoong,” he adds, pointing at Tall One and the pirate.

Yunho nods slowly. Ever since he had laid his eyes on Hongjoong, he had been unable to form a proper sentence, and frankly, he was afraid of stumbling over his own words and making himself look like an idiot.

Mingi stands up and steps before the bars, next to Yunho. He nudges Yunho’s side, almost unmistakably, and that finally pulls Yunho entirely out of his stupor. No one seems to have noticed his temporary absence in reality as he was dreaming about holding Hongjoong’s hand and kissing his cute cheeks good night. No one except Seonghwa, who’s looking at him with a look that’s a mixture of confusion and _you better sleep with both eyes open tonight_. Yunho looks anywhere but in his general direction.

“There’s another exit through the back door,” Mingi says, pointing to the end of the hallway with the prison cells. “I’ve been here for long enough to know no one ever guards that exit. It leads you right to the harbour and I think that’s where you want to go. – Oh and I’m Mingi, and this is Yunho.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Yunho blurts out defending himself without any reason to in the first place. He is sure being the perfect, innocent citizen isn’t the most sufficient way to get into Hongjoong’s pants, considering what he does for a living.

He hadn’t known Hongjoong for a whole five minutes and here he is already, trying so hard to impress him.

Hongjoong smiles at him, acknowledging him, as if saying _very responsible of you Yunho, I’m glad you’re one of the good guys, now come here and give me a kiss_ but Yunho might be projecting and interpreting too much into it. Yunho smiles back, hoping it doesn’t convey how badly he wants to worship every part of Hongjoong’s being, and he realises too late it looks borderline forced and painful.

God, he’s Fucked.

///

When someone had asked 12-year-old Wooyoung where he’d see himself in roughly 10 years, he would have answered with San by his side. And well, he isn’t wrong about that per se, if you leave out the fact that he’s running away from the police with San’s hand tightly clasped in his.

He would have liked to imagine the two of them living somewhere close to the sea as it held significant meanings to both of them, maybe even on a boat far away from home. They’d get up whenever they wanted, no responsibilities waiting for them, their days planned spontaneously. Just the two of them against the world, as they always say.

He knows having a mer-creature as a best friend and proclaimed soulmate does have its disadvantages, but never in a million years had he expected them to end up in a situation like this.

It all starts relatively early in the morning, and Wooyoung should have known better, he should have known that days including waking up before the sun fully rises never hold anything good. San wakes up with a headache and unintentionally, he wakes up Wooyoung as he tries to stumble downstairs of their rented apartment right above the local bar to get a drink. He’s clumsy, especially when he just got up, and he manages to drag the blanket off the bed, exposing Wooyoung’s sensitive body to the cold morning air and falls in the process. If it hadn’t been for the chills immediately spreading on his skin, San’s multiple cries of swear words would have done the job of waking him up.

“What’s wrong?” Wooyoung grumbles, pulling the blanket back to cover himself up. 

“My head hurts,” San whines and Wooyoung can picture the pout that must be on his face in his head so vividly, he can’t _not_ get up and try to help him finding something against his pain. “Get back to bed, I’ll get you something,” Wooyoung orders and gets up himself. He tucks San back into bed, throws on some clothes that lay on the chair and hurries downstairs.

He can hear voices and he guesses it must be the hosts cleaning up the remains of last night’s guests. Their landlady is sweet, absolutely adores Wooyoung’s smile and San’s dimples, and she rushes to make a cup of tea for San and an awfully smelling soup that she swears helps against any kind of sickness.

Wooyoung carefully balances the cup and the bowl on his hands, while simultaneously trying not to spill any of the hot contents on his skin and getting the smell of the soup as far away from his nostrils as possible. When he arrives in the room, with a speech about how much of an awesome best friend he is partially drafted in his head, he realises the bed is empty. Hastily, he puts the items on the table, deciding to ignore how the soup spilt over and is now in the process of ruining the wood, and whirling around the room in the search for San. The bed is barely warm which means San must have left right after Wooyoung had. He swears loudly, letting out grumbled complaints about San and about his inability to just _do what he’s been told_.

He decides to look outside, because maybe, logically, San is out to get fresh air and clear up his head. And he doesn’t come a moment too late.

The bar is practically directly by the sea. Only fifteen metres of sand separate it from the water, and about halfway, Wooyoung sees a way too familiar red fin he’d recognise in a lineup. Even though the streets are hardly busy in the morning, there are suddenly more and more people coming to look at what is lying there in the sand, the first sunrays of the day making the glistening scales look even more outstanding and breathtaking.

“San!” Wooyoung screams and lunges forward to help him, save him from the curious looks of the strangers. It’s hell running through the sand, but Wooyoung can’t even think of slowing down, not when San’s lying there, vulnerable for everyone to see. “San,” he gasps again, as he pushes through the masses to get to the helpless merman.

San looks horrible. His face is pale, pulled into a terrified grimace and his tail feebly flaps against the sand. He tries to shield his body from the prying eyes, in vain. His arms fly around as if he’s trying to shoo the people away, but that’s just making them come even closer.

Wooyoung promptly hoists him up bridal style and carries him away. San loops his arms around Wooyoung’s neck and he looks at him like he’s hung the stars and moon, as if he’d just saved his life, which, frankly speaking, he probably has.

He helps to guide San into the water, not even realising the cold waves hitting his legs mid-thigh, and he watches San swim away, his tail reappearing once or twice from below the surface before he disappears. Wooyoung knows San won’t be gone for long, maybe an hour at most. In moments like these, San gets overwhelmed and his way of coping with it is swimming and swimming until he can’t move his tail anymore and then some. Wooyoung knows, at the end of the day, San will always come back to him.

Later, Wooyoung draws the conclusion that it had been too long since San had last changed into his natural form, his sudden headache an obvious giveaway. Wooyoung blames himself for not realising sooner that San would have to swap legs for fin again, but he knows San wouldn’t like him making himself responsible for the accident.

It’s around midday and they’re both walking along the promenade again. The recent events are still lucid and present in their minds, but the two of them have managed to calm down for now. They sit down on the stone wall that divides beach and street, their legs swinging back and forth as suddenly someone sits down next to San.

San, more scared from the incident than Wooyoung is, flinches automatically, and scoots closer to his most trusted person. The third person smiles as if he understands San and doesn’t look offended at all.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to be scared of me,” the person, a man in his mid-forties reassures them and makes a gesture that symbolises them to stay calm.

“Give us a reason to,” Wooyoung hisses back, eyeing up the man, his eyes resting on the logo of the Navy imprinted on his jacket and pants.

The man just laughs again as if Wooyoung had just told one of his jokes. “I guess I can’t do that, but I can give you a reason not to: there are guards looking everywhere for you, and I could have already told them where you are, but I didn’t.”

San pulls the collar of his shirt up to cover his face and lets a few strands of his black-red hair fall into his face. He looks at Wooyoung with big eyes who pats his thigh in a calming matter. For now, he decides to hear the man out.

The oldest takes their silence as a cue to continue. “My name is Kim Woobin, and I’m from the science team of the Navy.” Wooyoung feels something heavy in his stomach drop and judging from the way San tenses up next to him, he must be feeling the same. “I’ve seen you two at the beach earlier this morning, and I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I’ve never quite seen something as extraordinary as you, something as beautiful as you.” The compliments are meant to flatter San, to make him warm up to Kim Woobin, but it has the opposite of the desired effect. With every word that leaves his lips, Wooyoung’s bad gut feeling worsens, and he grows more hostile with each passing moment. “And I wanted to ask you if you would agree to some experiments. I won’t do anything to harm you, of course, I simply want to find out more about you and your people. In return, I will make sure you always have a warm bed to sleep and warm meals to eat.”

The offer is enticing, and Wooyoung feels bad for only thinking about agreeing. He had made it his purpose to make sure San is always well fed and has a place to sleep every night. Kim Woobin seems to know that they’re not exactly living a life of luxury, and he’s taking that as leverage to persuade the two to agree to his suggestion. But he’s also painfully aware that Kim Woobin won’t keep his promises, not for very long at least. The man is giving him a very uneasy feeling and Wooyoung knows he can trust his gut feelings on this one.

“No, thank you, we’re not interested,” Wooyoung replies tight-lipped and gets up. San follows him. “Have a great day, Mister Kim.” He makes a turn to leave Kim Woobin behind, but his words stop him.

“You will regret this, both of you will. I’m sorry it has to come to this.”

And before Wooyoung can ask what the hell he’s on about, Kim Woobin gets up himself and yells on the top of his lungs, “I’ve found him, I’ve found the merman!”

In a matter of seconds, people surround them, mostly Navy officers with their sabres pulled out as if the two young men present just the smallest threat.

They act repulsively, forcing themselves through the growing crowd and managing to escape unharmed. They run, no direction, just trying to get the biggest distance between them and the people who are so keen on using San for whatever sick experiments they have in mind.

And that’s where they are now; running away from anyone and everyone, hands intertwined and lungs burning. Their escape comes to a sudden halt when Wooyoung bumps into something tall and hard, falling down and pulling San with him to the ground.

Tall And Hard turns out to be a young man that looks just as shocked as Wooyoung feels about their sudden collision. Wooyoung swears he disappeared out of thin air, just to make him stumble.

Tall And Hard has his own friends, and when Wooyoung recognises the emblem on the clothes of two of them, he scrambles to his feet, raising his fist to demonstrate he is very willing to fight them if he has to. Before he can do anything he’ll regret later, though, another one of them speaks up.

“Are you okay?” he asks, genuinely concerned and it startles Wooyoung. He splutters, taken aback as his eyes shift between the odd mix of people. “Your fall looked painful, is everything alright?” Wooyoung blinks and replies unsurely, “I’m fine, thank you.”

He feels San’s presence behind him as the other clings to his arm, ducking behind Wooyoung. Instinctively, he puffs out his chest, demonstrating how he’ll save San with his own life if he has to.

“Were you running away from someone?” one of the uniformed people asks and Wooyoung immediately narrows his eyes at him, remembering how he got into this situation in the first place. He flexes his thigh muscles, getting ready to bolt again as soon as one of them came close to them. San behind him digs his fingers into Wooyoung’s arm.

The small one from earlier looks at the two with his warm eyes and says, “You don’t have to be scared, we won’t hurt you two.” Simply from how sincerely he says it, with utter honesty and understanding as if he knows who Wooyoung and San are and what they had been through together, Wooyoung knows that he’s a good person. But Wooyoung isn’t ready to let his guards down, yet. San doesn’t seem to be sharing his point of you though; “We were running away from the guards because someone set them on us,” he says with his small voice, but he seems more self-assured now than he was a few moments ago.

“Just so you know,” Wooyoung starts, pointing his finger at the two men in uniform, “if you lay a single finger on him, if you do as much as _breathe_ into his direction, I will make you regret the day you’ve been born,” he warns them, boring his fingers into the taller one’s chest. “And I’m not joking.”

San quickly tugs his sleeve and pulls him away from the two before Wooyoung would cause any more troubles for them. The smaller officer snorts, and Wooyoung stares at him, until the other cracks up and starts laughing. “You know, we’re not actually from the Navy,” he explains at Wooyoung and San’s dumbfounded expressions. “Believe me, I hate seeing this uniform just as much as you apparently do. Wearing it makes my skin itch.”

Suddenly, Wooyoung wants to know more about the others and _how_ they ended up like this. Just by looking at them, it isn’t hard to tell how different they all are. Two of them look like the type to go sailing on a pirate ship and cause trouble everywhere, one of them – the one Wooyoung had bumped into – seems to be dressed pretty decently for a change. The other two are dressed in those uniforms that make Wooyoung’s blood boil, but now that he looks closer, the uniforms don’t seem to be fitting as well as you’d expect them to.

Tall And Hard suddenly pipes up, “Look, I don’t want to ruin whatever _this_ is, but it looks like we’re getting company.” With that, he points behind Wooyoung and Wooyoung’s head whips around. In the distance, he can see guards running towards them, coming closer and closer with each passing second.

Wooyoung panics and his brain short-circuits. He looks around, looking for escape routes and side-alleys to hide from the danger. San makes a choked up sound and whimpers, “I don’t know if I can run away for much longer, my legs are burning.” Wooyoung idly remembers how San’s body is especially weak after shifting, and considering he’d changed just this morning, running so fast and for so long must have been hell for him. “I know, Sannie, I know it’s hard for you,” he says, trying to calm his scared friend down even though he is close to freaking out himself. “You just have to hang in there for a bit longer.”

That’s when the voice of their rescue speaks up. “You can come with us.”

Wooyoung stares at the smaller man, momentarily forgetting the nearing threat. The other clears his throat and repeats himself, “You can come with us if you want. As I said, we won’t hurt you and you’re safe with us.”

San whined again, stepping from one foot to the other, pulling Wooyoung’s arm. “They’re coming closer.”

Wooyoung’s heart threatens to explode in his ribcage with how fast it’s beating. He considers both options for not long enough to call his decision reasonable but he looks at San, who seems at the verge of crying or passing out, looks at the guards that are way too close and at the man in front of them whose name he doesn’t even know, and he says, “We’ll come with you.”

“Follow me.”

Wooyoung, San, as well as all the others immediately react and follow the leader. In the distance, he can hear the guards screaming “Wait!” and “Don’t move!” but Wooyoung doesn’t even think of following their orders.

The unknown man leads them to a ship that Wooyoung guesses, _hopes_ , is his own and tells them to get on board as quickly as possible. Just mere seconds later, they’re leaving the harbour. The guards are standing on the planks, yelling at them to get back.

Wooyoung ignores them and turns away. He finds San sitting on the floor by the railing, hugging his knees to his chest and rocking back and forth. Wooyoung goes to him and sits next to him. He lays his arm around San and pulls him close to him. “It was a good decision to go with them,” San says, and untrue to his physical state, he sounds calm and sure. Wooyoung's eyes land on two of them, running around the deck, playing catch and chasing each other. “I’m not sure yet,” Wooyoung confesses. “I don’t know if we can trust them.”

Later, Wooyoung and San get formally introduced to the group. The small one who had invited them on board is called Hongjoong, and the ship is, in fact, his own. He must be the kindest pirate Wooyoung had ever met, and he doesn’t even pry on why Wooyoung and San were running away.

The uniformed tall one is Seonghwa. Hongjoong and he seem to be really close and Wooyoung knows there is something going on between them. Seonghwa’s look whenever he looks at either San or Wooyoung is undefinable, but Wooyoung’s getting the impression that he’s not too happy about the two of them being on the ship.

Moving on, Tall And Hard goes by Yunho, and he seems to be about the funniest and nicest person ever. It’s as if a puppy has been trapped in a body way too big for him with how much positivity radiates off of him.

His apparent best friend is called Mingi, who has a really deep voice and an adorable eye smile. He is apparently a pirate as well, used to be from what he’s telling, but Wooyoung can’t imagine him doing so much as harm a fly.

Last but not least, there is Yeosang. The other one in uniform which he seems to be so uncomfortable wearing. He’s acting all tough, but Wooyoung knows he’s got a soft shell beneath all that pulled up a facade of pretending to not give a single care in the world.

Then they tell them everything. And Wooyoung means _everything_. They tell them about how Seonghwa had been a Marine officer prior but had gotten fed up by the corruption, found Hongjoong and they both sailed away. When they made a break in a harbour, they found Yeosang who looked about dead, managed to pick up Mingi and Yunho on their way back, and that’s when they ran into Wooyoung and San.

Wooyoung is still being sceptical, years of trusting the wrong people have made him somewhat over-protective when it comes to San, but San seems to really enjoy himself. Engaging in conversations, laughing and clapping excitedly at their jokes or cracking some of his own. All in all, for the first time in a while, he looks happy, happy to be around people again, and Wooyoung will let him have it. Besides, there’s nothing he can do right now anyway judging by how they’ve already left the port long ago.

///

Hongjoong is a helpless romantic and he is painfully aware of that. It’s always been one of Seonghwa’s critique points that he’s having too high and too perfect expectations when it comes to, well, everything in this world. When Hongjoong had argued that it wasn’t a bad thing to be an optimist, Seonghwa had answered that it would better to be a realist in a world like the one they lived in. Hongjoong knows why Seonghwa is always frowning; he needs a bit of positivity in his life.

It’s always been his dream to watch the sunset, together with the love of his life, the red and orange light bathing them in a warm glow. They’d be sitting in the grass on a hill, arms around each other as they enjoyed each other’s presence.

When Hongjoong had first seen Yunho, he had been in a shock-similar state, his heart almost beating out of his chest and he couldn’t tear his eyes off the other’s face. He knows it’s not wise to judge a book by its cover, but he couldn’t help it. And later, when they had had dinner together, Yunho had proven himself to not only be a man with good looks but also a good inside. Hongjoong is on the verge of falling.

It’s late at night and the others are either already asleep or are getting ready for bed. His chest becomes warm at the reminder of him not being alone on the ship. He knows it won’t be for long, he’ll just take them to the next harbour and send them off for a new life. But he really enjoys it; the different voices being heard from all parts of the ship that don’t come from his own head. And it’s been so long since he could _talk_ to people. Even just catching up with Seonghwa before they collected the others had gotten boring over time. They desperately tried to avoid the elephant in the room: why did they break up?

Hongjoong might be interpreting too much into Seonghwa’s actions and words, but he’s gotten the idea that Seonghwa still hasn’t gotten over him and is still longing for them becoming something they were so long ago. Hongjoong’s insides churn at the idea of not being able to reciprocate those feelings and he knows at some point he’ll have to confront him about it. But he’s going to wait for a little bit longer to testify his thesis—he’s never been good at confrontation either.

He’s the only one on deck, elbows propped up on the railing as he stares into the sea. He’s forgotten every sense of time; it could have been ten minutes that he’s been standing here or two hours. The sea has always had such a calming effect on him, the seemingly uncoordinated waves have always antithetically been his anchor, and there is nowhere else he’d rather be than in the middle of the water. The waves rhythmically splash against the wood planks of his ship and Hongjoong loses himself in their rhythm every time. He is sure, if someone were to talk to him now, it’d take them several attempts to get through to him.

But it’s not someone from the ship that makes him snap out of it, but a ship in the water not that far away from him. Squinting, he can make out two arms waving in his direction. Hongjoong guesses it must be someone who had gotten lost on the sea and is asking for rescue. He waves back to symbolise the other person he has registered him and runs down to where the others are asleep. They’re sleeping in the cargo area, their makeshift sleeping quarters for now. Hongjoong doesn’t carry cargo, so it’s just a big empty room, but Hongjoong feels bad that he can’t offer them better places to sleep. Seonghwa has a separate room, not as big as Hongjoong’s, but it definitely passes as a rather big quarter. For one, Seonghwa had been the first on the ship, and Hongjoong knows Seonghwa and his strong dislike against any kind of bacteria and dust, so he doesn’t make him sleep on the floor of his ship.

He walks over the sleeping bodies and reaches Seonghwa’s room without tripping or kicking anybody. He doesn’t bother knocking because Seonghwa must be asleep. So, he quietly opens the door. The curtain-less window lets the moon shine his light inside, and Hongjoong realises there is not one but two figures sleeping in the bed. He immediately recognises the mop of auburn hair as Yeosang’s and Hongjoong has _so many_ questions.

He walks over to Seonghwa’s side of the bed and gently shakes him to wake him up. Seonghwa mumbles something, half-asleep, and a thin line of drool connects his mouth to the pillow. Hongjoong scrunches up his nose at the adorable sight.

“What’s wrong?” Seonghwa croaks out. He wipes his mouth and winces. “Did something happen?”

“There’s someone who’s asking for help. And there’s no one else except for us,” Hongjoong explains, keeping his voice at a minimum to not wake Yeosang—Yeosang, who is in _Seonghwa’s_ bed—up.

“What is it with you always wanting to help other people?” Seonghwa grumbles still not entirely awake, as he gets out of bed. Hongjoong knows Seonghwa isn’t fully aware of his surroundings so he doesn’t take Seonghwa’s words to heart.

Hongjoong has to grab Seonghwa’s hand to keep him from stumbling over the other boys, but even that doesn’t stop Seonghwa from kicking someone’s leg. Someone turns out to be Yunho, and Hongjoong is close to hitting Seonghwa for waking him up out of all people.

“Sorry, Yunho,” Hongjoong whispers. “Just go back to sleep.”

Yunho mutters something under his breath that Hongjoong can’t make out, and just when they’re out of the cargo bay, Hongjoong realises what Yunho must have thought of the two of them, and what Hongjoong and Seonghwa escaping together, holding hands, must have looked like. He briefly considers going back to give Yunho the full story, to tell him that he’s single and willing to let Yunho change that, but there’s a literal life on a stake in front of him, so he decides against it.

The cold night air wakes Seonghwa up and Hongjoong feels bad for not telling him to bring a jacket with him. “So, I was thinking I’d take a boat to rescue the person while you stay here and steer the ship in our direction,” Hongjoong says.

Seonghwa just nods, because he knows he can’t get in between Hongjoong and being the reincarnation of Mother Theresa. He mock-salutes and helps Hongjoong climbing down the ladder to get on the lifeboat.

Hongjoong rows to the other person who had barely gotten closer to the _Aurora_ , probably not daring to move until Hongjoong had gotten to them. It doesn’t take him too long to reach the young boy, and he sees that he’s unconscious. Hongjoong’s blood freezes at the sight of his pale skin and blue lips, but as he checks for a pulse he feels his heart thrumming against his fingers. Hongjoong manages to hoist the young boy into his boat, lays his coat around him and rows back to the main ship, where Seonghwa is already standing with at the other end of the ladder and blankets thrown over his arm.

The boy shortly regains semi-consciousness and that makes getting him up the ladder a lot easier. Hongjoong makes the younger climb up first and keeps close behind him just in case he’d fall down. When he reaches the top, he all but falls into Seonghwa’s arms and passes out again. Seonghwa is strong and tall enough to cushion the boy’s sudden fall and he wraps an arm around him. Hongjoong motions for him to carry him to his own quarters, and with shared strength, they manoeuvre him into Hongjoong’s bed which is big enough for two people. They wrap him in two extra blankets before throwing the covers over his shivering body.

For the last time that night, he opens his eyes again, looking around confused. Hongjoong smiles down at him and pats his shoulder. “It’s okay, you’re safe. Welcome aboard the _Aurora_.”


	2. the end of the beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some development of Yunho and Hongjoong's relationship, some sappiness, some tears, some revealings and a map.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- i'm literally so sorry it has taken me so long, there was just a lot going on in my life that this story wasn't my #1 priority tbh  
> \- this chapter is an unpaid collaboration with fantasynamegenerators.com because i'm so incredibly uncreative when it comes to Cool place names, and it didn't sit right with me to have them sailing around the Mediterranean sea or something, so all places here are made up. if you know me, you know that i think me knowing how to speak some languages on the most basic level is some epic character trait of mine, that's why i thought i'd flex with it here.  
> \- if you know me, you also know i'm an Astrology Hoe, so i took some headcanons about the signs of the members and sprinkled them in here. (and two aries lowkey fighting for the same person…… chef's kiss)  
> but it's also not my fault they behave so much like their signs okay  
> \- i never really classify the nature woosan's relationship so decide on what you want them to be lol
> 
> **warnings:  
>  \- no special warnings, but if you want me to add something, just lmk**

They’re having breakfast all together when the sun has already been up for several hours. Seonghwa appoints himself as the main chef and Yunho doesn’t complain because anything he touches becomes inedible, and he isn’t exaggerating. How he has managed to live on his own for so long, he can’t say either.

It’s weird, waking up and not hearing the chirping of the birds or the rushing of the tree’s leaves that is right in front of his window. He’s been living in that place all his life now, and when he wakes up to the mere sound of water crashing against the wood, he almost panics, but then he remembers where he is and who is with him.

Fashionably late, he joins the rest for breakfast. Or brunch at this point.

At first, Yunho thinks Seonghwa is the type of person who looks angry all the time when he really isn’t. But after watching him carefully, he realises only Wooyoung, San and he get these angry looks. As for himself, he figures he knows why Seonghwa dislikes him so strongly; Seonghwa and Hongjoong are pretty obviously in a relationship, or there’s at least some unresolved tension between them (Yunho only has to figure out what kind of tension). Thinking about the previous night where he saw the two escaping the cargo room leaves him with a sour taste in his mouth. And Seonghwa is so evidently the protective type, and when Yunho had basically ogled Hongjoong when they first met, he must have known what was going in Yunho’s head. But why San and Wooyoung are also victims of Seonghwa’s silent wrath though, is for Seonghwa to know and for the other three to figure out eventually.

Yunho is pulled out of his train of thoughts and brought back to earth—or rather, the sea—when Seonghwa slams a plate in front of him on the table. Yunho jumps and almost falls off his chair if it hadn’t been for Mingi sitting next to him and holding him by the waist. Yunho thanks him and clears his throat, painfully aware of the others looking at him. No one makes an embarrassing comment at Yunho’s stunt and soon enough they dig in.

“Why does he hate you so much?” Mingi asks in a low tone to prevent anyone from eavesdropping. Seonghwa sits too far away from them anyways, and he is engrossed in a conversation with Yeosang.

“I think he hates me looking at his boyfriend,” Yunho mutters. “Or for existing in general,” he adds with a bitter tone and sticks his fork into the omelette with more force than needed. San shrieks at the sound of metal scraping against ceramic.

“You think him and Hongjoong are. . .” Mingi’s eyes are wide open.

“I’m pretty sure. Seonghwa’s always looking at him as if he’s hung the stars and the moon and whatnot. He seems really in love,” Yunho tells him. There’s a weird feeling in his chest when he’s talking about it, someone else getting to have Hongjoong all to themselves, and that someone not being him. “Where’s Hongjoong, by the way?”

Mingi shrugs. “I don’t know; I haven’t seen him at all this morning.”

Yunho pokes his omelette, making an even bigger mess of it, this conversation topic spoiling his appetite. “He’s been up long last night, so he’s probably still asleep.”

Mingi’s eyebrows raise and threaten to disappear in his hairline. “And how do _you_ know what he’s been up to at night?” His voice sounds so scandalised.

Yunho hastily shakes his head to deny Mingi’s assumption. “It’s not like that,” he splutters. “I saw him and Seonghwa going somewhere together last night. And they didn’t return before I fell asleep, either.”

Mingi opens his mouth to say something, most likely to cheer Yunho up and tell him, he’s interpreting too much into it, but suddenly Hongjoong is joining them. Yunho would have wondered why there was another young boy behind him if Hongjoong hadn’t been so. . . _stunning_ with his sheer appearance. Yunho can see in his face that he didn’t sleep a lot last night; he looks tired, his eyes threatening to fall shut every second and the bags under his eyes are alarming. Yunho can see pillow creases on his cheeks and with his tousled hair, he can feel his chest warming at the sight. Hongjoong throws Yunho a shy look but looks away just as their eyes meet. Yunho‘s face heats up. From the other side of the table, Seonghwa mutters something under his breath and that sounds way too much like a spell. Yunho hopes his hair won’t turn green or he’ll have bees coming out of his mouth any time soon.

Yunho sees, almost misses, the way Hongjoong’s eyes flicker between Seonghwa and Yeosang. He must have seen Yeosang in Seonghwa’s bed last night as well. He wonders what Hongjoong’s guess was; last night, when Yeosang had disappeared in Seonghwa’s own room, the rest of them had come up with all kinds of theories, becoming more creative the later it got.

“Guys, this is Jongho,” Hongjoong explains. “We found him last night on a lifeboat.” Jongho, the young boy behind him, raises his hand and greets the others. A murmur of ‘hello’ and ‘welcome’ resonates back.

“What were you doing out in the sea on your own?” Wooyoung asks. Seven heads turn to look at Jongho. Even Hongjoong doesn’t know the exact reason why he had to rescue Jongho and waits for the younger to explain himself.

“My parents sent me on a ship for ‘extraordinary students’ for two months and pirates or something attacked us two days ago,” Jongho explains calmly as if it doesn’t faze him. Hongjoong’s eyes widen and he looks at Seonghwa for support. Jongho notices the older’s panic, and adds, “I know you’re a pirate, and I don’t hate them after the incident. In fact, I’m happy they gave me an opportunity to escape that ship.”

“Why that?” Mingi asks. Yunho chuckles at the way they all are suddenly so interested in Jongho’s life, but at the same time, he’s also hanging at the other’s lips, so he can’t really blame them.

“I didn’t do anything all day there. The Captain was busy sleeping with the teacher, treated us students—there were seven of us—like his personal slaves, and I didn’t learn anything. My parents spent a lot of money on it, and it was totally useless.”

Hongjoong lays a comforting hand on Jongho’s shoulder. “I’m sorry about that. It’s a shame that you had to experience that and that it was such a waste of money on top of that.”

“Oh, my parents knew what they were doing. They just wanted to get rid off me for some time, so they took the nearest opportunity to send me away for two months without me being able to contact them.”

Hongjoong’s mouth forms an ‘o’, and he clearly doesn’t know what to say. Jongho smiles at him, “It’s okay, I’m not sad about it. It’s been like that all my life, so, as sad as that sounds, I’ve gotten used to it,” he says, and Yunho is impressed at how he manages to keep the sadness out of his voice when the look in his eyes give him away so obviously. “I’m glad I’m here now.”

Hongjoong breaks into a blinding smile and Yunho has to control himself that he doesn’t slam his fist on the table. “Have some food, you must be starving,” he says and guides Jongho to the table. Jongho sits down next to Seonghwa.

“You know, your parents remind me of my own,” Seonghwa tells Jongho. He has a look in his eyes that Yunho can’t describe. His eyes are full of understanding, and he smiles at the younger boy next to him almost like an older brother, but there’s a certain sadness hidden behind those warm eyes as well.

“Did they abandon you all your life, too, and you always felt alone even though you lived with them in the same house?” Jongho asks, and Seonghwa nods eagerly. It must be the first time he can talk about it with someone else, with someone who has been through the same things he has. Yunho tunes out of the oddly heart-warming conversation and focuses on his food.

Now, with Seonghwa distracted and not paying attention to Hongjoong, Yunho takes his chance. “Hey, Hongjoong,” he starts. He really should have thought about what he wanted to say first, but he’s always been the type and to act and think afterwards. Hongjoong’s head immediately turns to look at him with expectation. “You know, I’ve actually never steered a ship,” is the first thing that comes out of his mouth. His mouth feels dry as if he has cotton in his mouth, and his hands are clammy.

Hongjoong’s eyes light up. “I could show you how to do it, if you want,” he suggests, and Yunho fears for his neck joints with how fast he nods.

Mingi grins at him when Hongjoong’s talking to San and gives him a thumbs up. Yunho grins back. He supports his head on his palms and openly stares at Hongjoong as he throws his head back in a silent laugh. Seonghwa’s glares are noticed but ignored.

Yunho turns out to be natural at steering ships. Hongjoong asks him if Yunho really hasn’t done it before with a pout and Yunho’s answer is delayed by a heartbeat.

“I really haven’t, I promise,” he laughs, and Hongjoong’s eyes crinkle into a smile as well.

They fall into a comfortable silence again. Yunho’s at the steering wheel, looking into the distance, gently swaying with the waves beneath him. He’s so deep in his thoughts, he doesn’t realise Hongjoong’s hand on his, correcting the course by a minimum. When he does though, Hongjoong’s looking up at him with big, round eyes, waiting for a reaction. Yunho bites on his lip to keep himself from saying anything dumb and looks onto the water again. His heart is racing, his brain even faster as he tries to come up with something to say.

He stays silent, his hands starting to sweat and he prays Hongjoong doesn’t realise. After a minute of Yunho pointedly ignoring the very warm and very soft and _very tiny_ hand on his, Hongjoong slowly retreats his hand.

Yunho reacts immediately. “No,” he says, way too loudly and startling Hongjoong. “Keep it there,” he stammers out. “So that we don’t break from the course.” The excuse is lame, Yunho and Hongjoong both know that, but Hongjoong just nods with a small smile. They manoeuvre themselves so that Yunho’s standing behind Hongjoong, their intertwined hands on the wheel as they steer the _Aurora_. It takes Yunho a lot of self-control to not rest his chin on Hongjoong’s mop of hair, but he decides they haven’t reached that stage yet. And also, Seonghwa is still an undefined variable in Yunho’s plan of trying to woo Hongjoong, and before he has figured out what Seonghwa and Hongjoong are, he doesn’t want to take any risks.

“Yunho, what the _fuck_ was that earlier?” Mingi asks Yunho as soon as he sees Yunho sitting all alone, staring into the water with a dreamy look on his face that tells Mingi he’s far away with his thoughts.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Yunho sing-songs, knowing exactly what Mingi is talking about.

“You and Hongjoong on the steering wheel? Ring any bells?” Mingi says, so loud that he almost sounds hysterical and he looks at Yunho as if he can’t believe Yunho has actually done something so unthinkable. “Can you two be even more obvious? Do you know how hard it was to keep Seonghwa from coming up to see that? I owe Yeosang a week cleaning duty, thanks to you, who can’t keep his hands to himself.” Yunho hasn’t even known Mingi could be anything else but happy and cheerful, and he doesn’t know if he should pat himself on the shoulder for bringing that Mingi out or kick himself.

“You really did that for me?” Yunho asks, touched.

“Of course I did, you’re my friend,” Mingi replies casually, without missing a beat. Yunho knows he should find it strange that someone he’s known for only a couple of days calls himself as his friend, but somehow it feels right. He thinks he’s really found a good friend in Mingi; even though they don’t each other that well, they’re understanding each other on a wholly different level. Yunho kind of wonders where Mingi has been all his life.

“What did Yeosang do that you’re owing him something?” Yunho asks instead because he knows if they spoke one more second about their friendship, he’d start to get really sappy.

“I told him to keep Seonghwa distracted and keep him from going on the deck until you two stopped being so _goddamn obvious_ ,” Mingi says. He sits down cross-legged next to Yunho. “I don’t know what they did, but we can be grateful it worked. I don’t want Seonghwa going feral and doing something to you, you know.”

“Your softie side is showing, Mingi,” Yunho teases and pinches Mingi’s cheek. He hopes Mingi gets what he’s trying to say here.

Yunho highly doubts that Seonghwa could do anyone harm. He might seem intimidating like he could punch you in the face if your tone was off, but he dares to say that he’s got a soft heart. Or maybe he doesn’t want to scare off Hongjoong. He doesn’t say that though and smiles at Mingi. Mingi sighs, but can’t keep his own smile hidden.

“Wait, does that mean Yeosang knows?”

Mingi’s look is priceless. “I’m sure everyone knows—well, everyone except Hongjoong, of course. I could ask anyone and they’d say they think you two are boning. Even Jongho has asked me if there was anything going between you two.”

Yunho blushes and hides his face behind his hands. Mingi laughs and Yunho knows he isn’t mad anymore. But he reckons, he really should be less obvious about his torturous crush on Hongjoong. Or maybe he should get even more obvious now, going in the offensive.

And like that, three good weeks pass in the blink of an eye. Yunho has started countless attempts of courting Hongjoong, but either Seonghwa is there and hears his flirting, or, when they’re alone, Hongjoong blushes furiously before he stammers an excuse and runs off to God knows where. However, Yunho knows Hongjoong doesn’t mind the flirting, and he’s fairly sure Hongjoong is at least somewhat interested in him. Maybe if he knew the nature of the relationship of Hongjoong and Seonghwa, he’d know how to act appropriately, if he should encourage more open flirting with Hongjoong or back off.

One evening, when they’re having the same soup they’ve had for over a week for dinner—Seonghwa always makes them eat up because apparently, it’s full of nutrients—Hongjoong tells them they’re arriving at a harbour the next day. It’s silent, uncomfortably so, because it means it’s time to say goodbye. Yunho hasn’t thought it’d be possible, but the eight of them have grown so incredibly close over the relatively short period of time. Even Seonghwa has reduced his glares directed at Yunho to a minimum. And San, who has been so shy at first, barely being able to get out some words and always hiding behind Wooyoung when someone talked to him, had warmed up to them. They found out he is a really funny and talkative person. But he’s a really kind and caring guy as well, and he always makes sure everyone is feeling alright, and if they don’t, they can always come to him.

Mingi breaks the silence by telling a joke about the Royal Navy and not even Seonghwa comments on the inappropriateness of the topic for the sake of guiding it _somewhere_. After that, no one mentions the coming day again.

They finish up dinner and Wooyoung and San offer to do the dishes. Yunho knows they’re doing this to get on Seonghwa’s better side because even after warming up to them, he’s still continuing to look at them with the same undefinable look.

Then, it’s just Yunho and Hongjoong. They’re alone, the rest having fled off to somewhere else, and Yunho doesn’t miss the way Mingi wiggles his eyebrows at him, but doesn’t grace him with a reaction.

And Yunho realises, this is the perfect opportunity to let Hongjoong know about his feelings. About the feelings that have been only getting stronger those three weeks. The metaphorical butterflies he feels whenever Hongjoong’s eyes land on his—or maybe not even that; sometimes Hongjoong’s getting so lost in his thoughts, completely forgetting his surroundings, and he’s got that smile on his face that has Yunho feeling some type of way. Yunho’s knees go weak whenever he hears the other one laugh or just his voice, honestly. He‘s feeling all these things he‘s never felt at such intensity before, and he‘s _dying_ to let Hongjoong know. But, alas, Yunho‘s only a man with a weak heart, and he may act all confident around Hongjoong, like somebody who knows what he‘s doing, but in reality, his words die in his throat whenever he tries to talk _feelings_ with Hongjoong.

“Hongjoong,” he starts, his voice trembling so obviously.

Hongjoong’s been looking into the night sky, the moon illuminating his soft features and when he’s looking at Yunho, the younger is taken aback by his beauty. He’s seen Hongjoong every day for _days_ but there’s something special about his looks today. The stars are dancing in his eyes, he’s smiling and for the first time in a while, he looks at peace. Yunho has gotten to know that Hongjoong tends to stress over the smallest things, and now with him being responsible for 7 other guys—though, they don’t call Seonghwa teasingly ‘mum’ for no reason—he’s been more burdened than ever. And seeing him like this, free from all his responsibilities and constant need to look out for others, he is more beautiful than ever to Yunho.

“Yes?” Hongjoong says after a while, and too late does Yunho realise he’s been staring.

His brain runs at maximum capacity to come up with a clever safe that won’t give him away. “I’ve always wondered, why did you become a pirate?” Well done, Yunho, a very good save there.

He doesn’t know if he’s imagining it, but Hongjoong’s face seems to fall, just ever so slightly before he covers it up and starts talking.

“Well, you know, at first I’ve been just like Seonghwa: I’ve hated pirates to no end,” Hongjoong starts. “I just didn’t get why they behaved the way they did; robbing people, attacking sailors. And then, I found out my dad has been one of them all along, my parents have just always kept it from me. If it was for my safety or their own, I don’t know. And that just changed something in me, you know?” He pauses, and suddenly, Yunho realises Hongjoong has never told his story to anyone before. Yunho is the first one he’s comfortable enough sharing it with. “You see, my dad has always been a hero to me, even though he wasn’t home that often, he inspired me a lot and I always looked up to him. So I thought to myself, ‘Can pirates really be that evil when he’s one of them?’.

“That’s when I began to question what everybody has told me about pirates—the horror stories of violence and murder. When I was a kid, I always believed them, because why would they be false? Why would everybody lie about it? When I grew up, and after finding out the truth about my dad, I saw the things from a different point of view, and I came to the conclusion that so many of these blood-curdling tales which were simply meant to stir up hatred were just made up by God knows who to create this image of a common enemy they could fight. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m aware that there’s some really bad guys out there, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned from my time on the water, it’s that a lot of pirates are more human than a lot of those who claim to serve their country.”

A heavy silence follows. “But that doesn’t explain why you became a pirate,” Yunho says then. “You’ve realised not all pirates are what they are said to be, okay, but that doesn’t make someone give up their own, conventional life like that.”

Hongjoong chuckles. “You’re right, it doesn’t,” he agrees. This time, he hesitates, and it’s different from before. This time he isn’t thinking about how to phrase his thoughts, and that makes Yunho realise it’s really getting serious. “On my 18th birthday, my dad gave me a map. I could never—” Hongjoong interrupts himself and clears his throat. Instinctively, Yunho reaches out and grabs his hand, a silent gesture of support. It helps, and Hongjoong continues. “I never found out what it’s for, I only know it leads to a treasure, and ever since, I’ve made it my personal mission to find out what it means. I have the feeling it’s important. Being a pirate was just a side effect if you will.”

Yunho nods slowly. It’s a lot that Hongjoong is trusting him with, and he can’t help but puff out his chest at that.

“How did Seonghwa react when you decided to devote your life to the pirate lifestyle? You’ve said earlier he isn’t a big fan of pirates,” Yunho asks again. He’s getting the impression Hongjoong has wanted to talk about it for a long time, but no one has been interested in what he has to say before.

“You must know, before my dad told me about what he does for a living, Seonghwa and I had been planning to go to the Royal Navy together for a long time—we were young and thought it would be a good way to prove ourselves worthy to the world. I think it was his parents who had suggested it to him, and since I promised him I’d always be by his side, the two of us applied for the training programme. But, evidently, I couldn’t go back to my old life after that day.

“And, _God_ , Seonghwa was really mad at me, and he didn’t understand me. He said that he couldn’t let me go and let me throw my life away like that. But I told him I had to do it, and there was nothing he could say or do to convince me otherwise.” Hongjoong’s glowing aura suddenly shifts. His mouth is pressed into a thin line, and Yunho blames the flickering lights for that, but it looks like his lower lip is trembling.

“So, your relationship has had to endure a lot?” Yunho concludes, a bitter taste in the back of his mouth.

“Well, actually—”

“Guys, Wooyoung and San are gone!” Mingi suddenly yells as he’s running up to them.

Hongjoong is on his feet immediately to help Mingi look for them. Yunho would have died to know what Hongjoong was about to tell him but it looks like Yunho has to wait a little longer.

///

San tries his best to stay as quiet as possible—he wouldn’t have been able to produce a sound that went further than muffled, unidentifiable sounds, with how Wooyoung has his hands clasped over his mouth anyway. Distantly, he can hear the others calling their names.

San pushes Wooyoung’s hand away. “Why did you drag me here?” he demands in a whisper.

“You’re gonna shift soon, and we need to get off this ship before they find out,” Wooyoung explains, turning his head repeatedly like someone would sneak up on them any moment. “We can’t take any risks. I don’t want the same thing happening like last time.”

San runs his tongue over his teeth. “You can’t just decide over where I go, Wooyoung,” he says coldly and narrows his eyes at the other. “I think we can trust them, they’re good people.”

Wooyoung almost goes feral. “San, we can’t take risks. What if they find out and get scared? Or what if they contact the Navy? Last time was close enough.”

San understands where Wooyoung is coming from, he really does. But he’s been fed up with Wooyoung’s overprotective side for a long time, and this is the final straw. “But weren’t they the ones who saved us eventually?”

Wooyoung sighs deeply and pinches the bridge of his nose. San, who is used to seeing Wooyoung being careless and energetic most of the time, is shocked by how stressed out he appears to be. He feels bad for not realising that this is Wooyoung’s business as much as it is his own. Because San might be the one who gets a fishtail every month, but it affects Wooyoung just as much. Wooyoung, who left his home, following San wherever he goes and promised to keep him safe.

Wooyoung’s worried expression relaxes into a calmer one. “I’m not saying they’re inevitably bad people, I’m just not ready for them to find out—”

“To find out what?” says a voice behind them suddenly.

San’s head snaps up and with a horrified look, his eyes meet Seonghwa’s. His eyes widen and he stares at Seonghwa like a deer in front of the hunter‘s loaded gun barrel, not daring to make a move.

Seonghwa‘s eyes narrow as he analyses the two in front of him. San releases a shaky breath.

“What are you hiding, Wooyoung?” Seonghwa asks coldly, dangerously stepping closer.

San looks at Wooyoung. They both share a confused look, before Wooyoung puffs out his chest and replies boldly, “that’s none of your business.” The only one more surprised than Seonghwa seems to be Wooyoung himself, but he doesn’t step back.

Seonghwa raises his eyebrow before he backs away. “I’m watching you two,” he promises lowly. “And now you’re coming with me to Hongjoong and explain why the fuck you were hiding from us. Maybe you’ll tell _him_ about your little secret.”

San and Wooyoung don’t dare to say anything. They silently follow Seonghwa’s intimidating figure into Hongjoong’s room.

“I’ve found them,” Seonghwa announces as he steps into the room without bothering to knock. Hongjoong is alone, sitting on his bed, sketching messily in a notebook that looks as old as himself. When he hears Seonghwa suddenly intruding he scrambles and tries to hide it under his pillow. In his haste, he manages to do the exact opposite and it flies in a high arch before it lands right in front of San’s feet. It’s open and San sees a few scribbled phrases, some crossed out and a few drawings with ink and feather. He feels like he’s intruding Hongjoong’s privacy by looking at the opened page, so he quickly bends and closes the book before he hands it to a blushing Hongjoong. Seonghwa’s glare is burning into his skin.

“Why were you hiding from us?” Hongjoong asks, almost a bit sad, and he looks at Wooyoung and San. “Were you trying to escape?”

San has half the mind telling Hongjoong that _he_ wanted to stay on board and that it was Wooyoung who dragged him away. Almost like a younger sibling telling their other sibling off in order to be the parent’s favourite child.

“I’m sure Wooyoung’s hiding something, too,” Seonghwa interjects.

Hongjoong’s look is unreadable, but then his features become softer. “I’m sure he has his reasons that he doesn’t tell us, right Wooyoung?”

Now, San wouldn’t have expected this answer _at all._ Wooyoung stammers out a “yes”, and before they know what’s even going on, Hongjoong dismisses them, but not without reminding them that they can always talk with him if something’s bothering him. On their way to their sleeping place, they can hear Seonghwa and Hongjoong arguing, but decide against eavesdropping. They’ve pushed their luck enough for today.

The other four guys are already in the cargo area, and they break into smiles when they see Wooyoung and San being safe and sound.

“Where were you guys?” Mingi asks, jumping on his feet to hug both of them closely like it hasn’t just been twenty minutes that the two of them were gone. “We were so worried.”

San just shakes his head, symbolising that he doesn’t want to talk about it. Mingi understands and backs off.

“We made tea and wanted to play cards but then you were suddenly gone,” Jongho tells them.

San’s eyes finally get used to the light in the cargo area, or the lack thereof, and he takes in the sight in front of him. There are blankets and pillows arranged in a circle, where the others are already sitting. The sight is so endearing and San feels a lot for a moment.

San and Wooyoung join them on the floor—Wooyoung next to Jongho and San sits beside Mingi. Mingi must sense that San is freezing because he promptly wraps one of the blankets around his shoulders. Yunho hands the two newcomers a cup of tea, and San drinks it gratefully. The drink leaves a burning trail down his throat and San coughs.

“Did you think it’s _just_ tea?” Yeosang asks with a chuckle. “This is our last night here, and we have to make the best of it,” he announces and the others agree.

Then they start playing. Yunho, who seems to know every game ever played, explains them the rules. And considering his pre-existent knowledge, it’s no wonder he wins almost every time. Thankfully, they’re just playing for the fun of it, and no money is on stake.

“I can’t believe we’re really gonna leave tomorrow,” Mingi says thoughtfully, his words slightly slurred. “I mean—this probably sounds weird but you all have become almost like a family to me,” he admits further and the others coo at his words but no one has it in him to disagree to his words. They wordlessly take sips from their cups and stare into the lamp’s small flame.

San, who has been leaning against Mingi after his first cup—because, frankly, human alcohol gets to him more than he is willing to admit—smiles and lays his hand on Mingi’s thigh, squeezing it.

“I feel the same,” Jongho, their youngest, agrees. “You not only saved my life, but you made it so much better in just these two weeks. I—I don’t know what I’m gonna do after tomorrow.”

Everyone nods silently. They all have found their family in these people they have never met before. Even though they all have different upbringings, they have come so much closer, and they realised it doesn’t really matter where and how they grew up.

“I hope Hongjoong knows how much he’s done for us. How much he has improved all of our lives,” Yunho says quietly.

San agrees. Even though he himself might not be so head over heels in love with Hongjoong, Yunho is right. Hongjoong has saved Seonghwa from the Royal Navy, Yeosang from starving to death, saved Mingi and Yunho from, at worst, getting executed. He has saved San from turning into a lab rat, and he’s pretty much saved Jongho from dying.

“But he still has Seonghwa, even when we’re gone,” Jongho speaks up again.

The cards slip out of Yunho’s hands. “What?” he splutters. “Will Seonghwa not leave the ship with us?” San translates for the others.

Jongho shakes his head. “I’ve heard them talk about it. Hongjoong wants Seonghwa to stay with him and help find a treasure or something like that.”

Wooyoung snorts. “‘Find a treasure’,” he repeats and makes quotation marks in the air. Some snicker at the implication.

San looks at Yunho and the tall one looks sad—no, he looks crushed. His mouth is turned downwards and his eyes are empty as he plays with the cards in his shaky hands. He must be sad that Hongjoong not only did not ask Yunho to stay with him but asked _someone else_ to. And that someone else being Seonghwa clearly doesn’t make it better. San wishes he could do something to cheer Yunho up, but he knows nothing he says or does could erase the feelings Yunho feels right now.

So, he just refills Yunho’s cup and hands it to him with a small smile.

It was foreseeable that the six of them would not get a lot of sleep, but San still regrets drinking so much in the morning. The others don’t even look half as bad, maybe a bit tired, but definitely not as ruined as San feels. To his defence, they all have home advantage and he doesn’t. Maybe he’ll get them to drink some of the ale they have underwater, and he wants to see how they’ll react to it.

During the night, Seonghwa had come under deck to go to his own cabin at the other side of the cargo area. They had been scared he’d tell them off for staying up way past their bedtime, but he hadn’t graced them with any comment whatsoever. San guesses it had to do with the argument he and Hongjoong had had.

They reach the harbour around noon. The atmosphere feels uneasy when they see the signs of civilisation on the horizon. No one dares to say anything, the conversation topics are kept simple and shallow. San hates the feeling and he shudders just from how uncomfortable he feels.

But it only gets worse when they fully arrive in the port. Hongjoong turns around to look at the seven men behind him, his hands awkwardly clasped together.

“Uh, I guess—I guess this is it now,” he declares with an awkward expression which doesn’t even classify as a forced smile. “It was really, um, amazing meeting all of you. It has been a long time since I have been this close to anyone, and I’m so thankful to have met all of you. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget you. You all will always have a special please in my—” He clears his throat and gestures behind him. “Have a good day, and maybe we’ll see each other again.” He moves to the side to let everyone exit the ship. His hand is trembling and he looks just as miserable as everyone feels.

San knows it’s hard for him to send his new friends away after having gotten so close to them. One evening, when neither Hongjoong nor San could sleep, they had an unplanned meeting on the main deck. Hongjoong had told San about his lifelong solitude, how he never had any close friends and how it affected him.

No one budges.

“Guys?” Hongjoong says. He sounds so tiny. “Do you want to stay here or what?” He jokes to ease the sensible tension in the air, however, no one laughs.

The six of them share a look, recalling what they’d discussed the night before. Then it’s Jongho who speaks up because no one else dares to. “If you let us, we’ll stay here. With you. To help you find the treasure,” he declares on behalf of everyone.

Seven pairs of wide eyes look at Hongjoong. Hongjoong, who is at a loss for words. San sees how is bottom lip is barely visibly trembling.

“Y-you want to stay here?” he repeats like he can’t believe it himself.

They nod.

“Well, if you’re sure about it...,” Hongjoong says. And then he breaks out into a wide smile, his eyes glistening.

The moment is loaded with emotions and everybody feels it. The momentary bond between the eight of them is filled with a mutual feeling of affection, tenderness and caring. San really feels like crying, and he’s thankful for Mingi who apparently can’t take it any longer either when he screams something unintelligible and pulls them into a group hug. Then they all go to their assigned positions—Wooyoung and San releasing the moorings, Jongho lifting the anchor, Seonghwa disappears into the kitchen, Mingi helps Yeosang pull in the plank, and Hongjoong and Yunho steer the boat. The _Aurora_ starts sailing again.

For the rest of the day, Hongjoong keeps going on about how happy he is that they decided against leaving him, and how much he loves every single one of them. San hears the sincerity in his voice, and it makes his heart swell. He’s certain that they made the right decision.

It’s almost midnight when they get called into Hongjoong’s quarters. No one knows what’s the problem, not even Seonghwa who had been sent to gather ‘the kids’.

Hongjoong’s quarters are relatively large, but with the total number of eight grown men, it’s a tight fit nonetheless. Yunho, Mingi and Jongho make themselves comfortable on Hongjoong’s bed. San watches how Hongjoong temporarily contemplates if he should take a seat between Yunho’s long legs, but he decides against it and squeezes himself between him and Mingi. He’s holding something in his hands, and San guesses the content is the reason why he’s called them to him. The others sit down on the floor around the bed.

“You’re probably wondering why you’re here,” Hongjoong starts. “But, I’m gonna tell you a little story before. I’ve only told this Yunho and Seonghwa.”

And then he begins to talk about his father, who has left him a map before he died. The map is supposed to lead him to a treasure of inestimable worth, but he is not able to follow the instructions because he has no idea how to _read_ the map.

“I don’t know if you’ll be able to do anything with this, but I know I’d regret it if I didn’t at least ask you.” And then he takes the roll of paper and spreads it out on the bed. Seonghwa takes a few books and places them on the corners to keep it from rolling back up.

The map is huge and San definitely knows why Hongjoong has had troubles trying to decipher its meaning. There are drawings scattered on the paper, and San can make out a mountain, something that looks like a bay and a forest. Thin lines are connecting the drawings. Random letters and symbols are written as well, and San can’t even begin to fathom what they could mean.

The room is silent and when he looks around, he sees the other ones in a similar state like he is. Yunho learns forwards to trace black lines like the answer will magically appear in front of his eyes.

Mingi pulls the piece of paper closer and pulls it up as he squints against the illogical arrangement of symbols, drawings and lines.

Yeosang next to San suddenly jumps up. “Don’t move, Mingi!” He yells and scrambles to his feet. He rummages through Hongjoong’s wooden desk, muttering things under his breath.

“What are you looking for?” Hongjoong asks.

“Paper, ink, feather,” Yeosang replies curtly.

“First drawer on the right.”

When Yeosang finds the things he’s been looking for, he snatches the map out of Mingi’s fingers, manoeuvres through the clueless men sitting on the floor and walks up to the window. He takes the map first, presses it against the window. Then, he lays the empty sheet of paper on top of it and begins writing something on it.

“There’s something written on it with some type of special ink,” Yeosang explains as he works. “And it can only be seen when the moonlight shines onto it, so I’m transferring it onto this new piece of paper.”

The rest makes ‘oh’s and ‘ah’s.

“That’s so smart, Yeosang,” Mingi exclaims and Yeosang’s ears turn red.

“Now that you mention it, I’ve never looked at it at night,” Hongjoong adds.

Wooyoung claps his hands in excitement. “This is the first step on our way to the treasure!” Hongjoong agrees and nods just as excited. “I was hoping we’d find a clue.”

Yeosang finishes up and comes back to the bed. He spreads the new map out, and the black ink is still glistening.

The first thing that catches San’s eye is that there’s now a lot more text. But after examining it closer, he recognises a couple more symbols and drawings as well.

“ _Le forêt des vagues verdes infinies_ ,” Yeosang reads out loud.

“Does anybody know what that means?” Yunho asks.

It’s Yeosang again who answers. “It translates to something along the lines of ‘the forest of endless green waves’.”

Seonghwa snorts. “How poetic.” Yeosang chuckles next to him.

Hongjoong’s face is glowing. He’s had this map for _ages_ and now he’s finally making progress. This moment has to be a very important one to him.

“And this?” he asks, pointing at a phrase written in another language.

“ _La montaña dorada del amanecer_ ,” Yeosang reads for the others again. “‘The golden mountain of sunrise.”

About everyone looks impressed. “I didn’t know you were such a language expert, Yeosang,” Wooyoung says mesmerised.

Yeosang just shrugs. He clearly hates being the centre of attention, but San knows him well enough to know, deep down, Yeosang loves the approval he’s receiving. “Well, that’s kinda a long story,” he says casually.

“Come on, tell us.”

Urged on by Hongjoong—and everyone else looking at him with anticipation—Yeosang begins. “Well, you know, I haven’t always been poor and homeless like when Seonghwa and Hongjoong found me. My family actually used to be very influential and powerful, but my father, who was the main source of income, he disappeared one day. No one knows why, and I don’t even have a hunch as to where he went. He also took all his money with him, so it was just my mum and me.

“We sold our house, and with that money, my mum paid language classes for me. I guess she knew it wasn’t long until I’d be on my own, so it was best if I was able to communicate in several languages. And apparently, it’s coming in handy now.”

“What happened to your mother?” Seonghwa wants to know.

“I don’t know, she probably sold her body or something to make ends meet. I lost contact with her after we got kicked out of our home,” Yeosang explains dryly, and he doesn’t seem to be affected.

Wooyoung tries to overcome the tension. “And what does that mean?” he asks and points on the writing above something that San had falsely interpreted as a bay. It resembles more of a lagoon.

Yeosang studies the words carefully, but his expression doesn’t look promising. “I don’t know. I also don’t think I’ve ever seen this language before.—Provided it even is a language.”

San had been passive the entire time, because, frankly, he isn’t good at solving riddles and he isn’t a linguistic genius like Yeosang either. Maybe he’s a bit jealous of them—okay, he’s very jealous, but he can’t change anything about it.

He takes a quick peek at the phrase in question and opens his mouth without thinking of the consequences of what he is about to say. “It’s Mermish. The language merpeople speak.”

The hushed discussions with one’s neighbour die down and everyone looks at him with confusion.

“I mean, I think so,” he adds hastily to cover up his slip up. “I’m not sure.”

“How do you know it _could_ be that Mermish?” Yeosang asks.

Wooyoung answers for San before the latter can make it worse. “You pick up a few things when you’re constantly switching places,” he explains and smiles widely. When they turn to the map again, Wooyoung elbows him into his ribs. San hisses but takes it because he kind of deserves this one.

“Do _you_ know what this means, then?” Hongjoong asks.

San sits up on his knees and closely inspects the words. Admittedly, his Mermish had gotten a bit rusty over time, but he’d try his best.

“‘The lagoon of the second sunset’,” he reads.

Sweat starts to break out on his neck. Had he blown up his cover? Do they distrust him now? The way everyone is looking at him just makes everything worse.

Hongjoong senses San’s distress and decides to save him. He claps into his hands and declares: “It’s getting late, kids. Let’s all get sleeping and we’ll talk more about the riddles this map beholds tomorrow.”

No one disagrees and they start clearing the room. Seonghwa is following San and Wooyoung. San’s way too wrapped up in his head, worrying about how he had fucked up, but Wooyoung apparently senses a threat in the oldest. He whips around and confronts him.

“What is your problem with us, Seonghwa, hm?” he asks through gritted teeth, his eyes glinting dangerously. He’s coming closer to the older, not caring that Seonghwa has got some inches on him, and that makes him look even more intimidating. San wants to interject, because this isn’t the first time Wooyoung is letting his impulsive side take over, and so far, the outcomes hadn’t been the best, but he doesn’t know how, because Wooyoung’s really on edge at the moment.

San’s looking at the scene in front of him in something close to fear. He thinks back to the times when Seonghwa has looked at the two of them like he was about to lunge for them. When San was laughing so hard at one Mingi’s jokes that he almost fell from his chair hadn’t it been for Wooyoung saving him. When they had read a book together on the main deck when it was the sunniest and warmest day of the week. When San spoon-fed him soup after they had both gotten into a fight and Wooyoung had been too proud to apologise.

It’s always been when it was the two of them, never once when they have been on their own.

And that’s when it clicks. The stares they have falsely interpreted as hateful are actually full of envy and regret.

“We remind him of something,” San states. “Or rather, someone.”

Seonghwa who looks very close to hitting Wooyoung slowly turns his head and looks at San with terror. His eyes are widened, and there are so many emotions scurrying over his face, and San feels as if he’s stripped bare in front of him after hiding his feelings in front of them for so long. But Seonghwa doesn’t say anything, and that’s how San knows he’s right.

“What does that mean?” Wooyoung is the only one who still doesn’t know what’s going on.

“We remind him of him and Hongjoong,” San explains. His eyes don’t leave Seonghwa’s face as he looks for any reaction.

“San stop being so fucking cryptic,” Wooyoung whines. San can basically hear his patience crumbling.

“Seonghwa, you and Hongjoong used to be a couple, didn’t you?” San takes his silence as an affirmation. “And you used to be just how Wooyoung and I are, right? Always doing everything together, laughing at the same jokes, and everyone saying how you’re attached at the hip. And it hurts to see us being happy when you can’t have that happiness yourself.”

These words turn out to be the breaking point of the oldest. He slides down the wall of the outside of Hongjoong’s quarters and buries his hands in his face. His torso is shaking and San crouches down to pet him gently.

“Do you mean he isn’t in a relationship with Hongjoong?” Wooyoung is still struggling to make sense of it.

San shakes his head. “It’s so obvious.” Then he lowers his voice in hopes of Seonghwa not hearing him over his own sobs. “Don’t you see the way he looks at Hongjoong? Like he’s the only person that matters for him. But Hongjoong never returns those look.”

“Right, he’s busy undressing Yunho with his eyes,” Wooyoung agrees unwisely.

Seonghwa raises his head to glare at Wooyoung with tear-filled eyes. San shakes his head at Wooyoung for his tactlessness and turns to Seonghwa again. He wraps his arms around the considerably taller man, and Seonghwa promptly sobs into San’s chest. Like this, he doesn’t even look that much bigger anymore. He looks so fragile, crying in San’s arms, and it’s breaking his heart. But that doesn’t mean he regrets what he’s said. Seonghwa has definitely needed a wake-up call and someone has needed to make him face the truth.

Wooyoung stands there awkwardly, but San’s got more important things to worry about.

“I’m sorry I let it out on you two like that,” Seonghwa sniffles as he retreats from his crying spot above San’s heart, and he sounds genuinely sorry. “I don’t think I even realised how badly I was treating you. I was blinded by how jealous I was of whatever you two have. And you were right, San, you remind me so much of Hong— of him and me when we were younger.”

Another stream of tears spills out of Seonghwa’s puffy eyes. Wooyoung magically pulls a kerchief out of his pocket and hands it to Seonghwa. He takes it, mutters a thank you, and blows his nose.

“I thought I was over him, I really thought after those _years_ we haven’t seen each other, I would have been able to heal. But that’s obviously not what happened. I think the time apart made me realise just how much he means to me.” He blows his nose one more time and continues. “When we first met, and Wooyoung was so protective over you, San, I had to think about the time when we were still. . . a thing. And I was just _so_ jealous.”

San’s chest clenches inward at the display in front of him. Seonghwa looks so utterly heartbroken and all three of them know there’s nothing he can do about.

“Don’t you think you need to tell him?” Wooyoung suggests.

“He already knows, doesn’t he?” San asks gently. He thinks back to the times when Hongjoong switched places with Yeosang last minute to avoid sitting directly in front of Seonghwa, or how he seemed to always avoid Seonghwa’s looks or touches.

Seonghwa nods. “I think he does. I’ve never told him, but he’s always been good at picking up stuff. He just never acts on them. That’s why there’s nothing happening between him and Yunho.” Seonghwa opts for cracking a joke, but his bitter tone doesn’t make anyone laugh at his words.

“Is that why Yeosang slept in your bed on our first night here?” Wooyoung suddenly wants to know. “To get over you-know-who?”

Seonghwa makes an offended noise. “Yeosang was feeling sick from all the food he’s had, so I offered him to sleep in my bed. Just in case something happened, I could be there to help him.”

“If it makes you feel better, we forgive you,” San says softly and strokes his arm in soothing circles.

Wooyoung pipes up. “We do?”

Seonghwa raises his head well. “You do?”

“Yes, we do,” San affirms. “I think we’ve all would have acted similarly in your situation.”

Seonghwa looks between the two of them with round, big eyes. “Does this mean we can be friends now?”

San and Wooyoung nod in unison.

Suddenly, San feels a pang going through his head. He falls backwards, clutching his temples and whimpering as he curls up into a foetal position.

Wooyoung shrieks and runs up to San. San feels his presence rather than sees him coming up behind him to hoist his torso up. He wraps his strong arms around San’s middle. “San focus on me, don’t drift off. Stay with me.”

It feels like needles are being inserted into his skull and along his spine, hitting the nerves dead-on. A hot, white pain is shooting through his entire body, maximising exponentially. San thinks he’s about to die on the spot and he can feel his consciousness fading.

Seonghwa overcomes the initial shock and rushes over to the two. “What’s happening? Oh my god, is he dying? Why are you so calm, Wooyoung?”

“Relax Seonghwa,” Wooyoung shushes him. “Help me drag him into the water.”

“Do you want to _kill_ him?”

“Seonghwa, please! Just trust me.”

Then, San feels a pair of hands grab his calves, another pair of arms hoisting him up by his shoulders, as he’s being carried over the deck to the water.

The first contact of water with his over-sensitive skin has an immediate cooling effect on his skin. He feels his gills forming at the sides of his neck and he takes a few deep breaths as he’s sinking deeper and deeper into the water. The moonlight shining through the masses of water becomes less with every metre he’s falling deeper and soon, he’s entirely engulfed in darkness. But he isn’t scared. He feels home like this.

The shift from human to merman is smooth and San doesn’t even register it. When he has fully transformed, he moves his fin up and down experimentally, before he swims upwards at full force. He breaches the surface, flies in the air for a few seconds before he gracefully dives back into the water.

He would have died to see Seonghwa’s reaction.

Now with his body having gotten what it has been craving so badly, his racing heart is calming down and he’s feeling energised. Not even the ice-cold water can lessen his good mood.

He reappears on the surface, this time only his head and shoulders peeking out and he looks up to the ship. Seonghwa has both hands clasped over his mouth and Wooyoung is full-on laughing at him.

He waves at the two before he dives back down again to explore the new part of the sea where he’d never been before.

///

Yunho sleeps a lot better knowing that he’ll be able to spend more time with Hongjoong. And who knows maybe during the additional time, he will finally pick up on Yunho’s endless flirt attempts.

When he wakes up he’s one of the first ones. He is not fully awake but decides to stand up either way. With Mingi and Yeosang snoring so loudly, he doesn’t think he’d be able to fall asleep again anyway.

No one else is up when he reaches the main deck, but there’s light coming from Hongjoong’s quarters. Without thinking about it, he knocks and enters when he’s told to.

Hongjoong is positively surprised to see a sleepy Yunho with tousled hair entering his room and promptly plopping down on his bed. He chuckles and makes room for Yunho’s long limbs, and helps him wrap into the blanket.

Hongjoong looks like he’s slept for twelve hours and seems at his maximum energy capacity. He’s sitting cross-legged on his bed, studying the two maps from yesterday as well as other ones with sparkling eyes.

“What are you doing?” Yunho asks with his eyes closed. He winces at how rough his unused voice sounds.

“Trying to solve this riddle further. Yeosang and San really have helped me a lot,” Hongjoong chirps. Yunho can’t help but smile at how happy he sounds.

“Do you have a hunch?”

“Well, I’m thinking these three places—the lagoon, the mountain and the forest—all have to be in one place, like an island. Else it wouldn’t make a lot of sense, and I don’t think my dad would have wanted me to explore _every_ forest, lagoon and mountain that exists,” Hongjoong babbles. “So, I’m looking for recordings of places that fit the description. But I couldn’t find anything yet.”

Yunho just hums because he still hasn’t reached the stage of the day where he can engage in conversation.

“And what are _you_ doing? Or rather, what are you doing _here_?” Hongjoong asks.

Yunho clears his throat to get the sleepiness out of his voice but still can’t get himself to open his eyes. “I couldn’t fall asleep again and I saw you were awake, so I decided I’d annoy you this morning,” he tells Hongjoong with a smug grin. He peeks through his lashes up to Hongjoong to see that he’s looking right back at him. And this time, he doesn’t dart his gaze away.

“You could never annoy me, Yunho,” Hongjoong confesses. “Never in a million years.”

Yunho’s chest clenches at the way Hongjoong says.

“I accept the challenge,” he retorts. And Hongjoong _giggles_. Like he isn’t torturing Yunho with the way he’s still looking at him alone.

“Does that mean I’ll have you by my side for a million years?” Hongjoong asks, this time a bit more hesitant which would have stayed undetected by the untrained ear.

“If you want me to, I’ll be at your side forever,” Yunho says, genuinely, sincerely. This time, he’s the first one to break the gaze. The intensity in Hongjoong’s eyes has become too much for him. And if he doesn’t want to do anything they both might regret later, he better clears up his head as soon as possible.

Hongjoong also retreats back to his maps and Yunho closes his eyes again. Everything smells like Hongjoong, the pillow, the blanket, the _air,_ and the warmth radiating from Hongjoong’s body lulls him back into sleep. A small hand dropping in his hair and playing with a few strands is what finally makes him fall asleep again.

When he wakes up, he’s alone, but he’s still in Hongjoong’s bed so what happened before he fell asleep for a second time, wasn’t a fever dream and has actually happened. He’s infinitely glad about that fact.

From outside, he can hear obnoxiously loud voices—two voices to be exact and they can only be from Wooyoung and Mingi.

He contemplates going to sleep once again, but then there’s a very inviting smell coming from outside and he decides against sleep. He rubs the sleep out of his eyes, tries to tame his bed hair a little and then joins the others outside.

They greet him cheerfully, and Yunho wishes them a good morning back. Everyone is in such a good mood, and it’s being passed over to Yunho.

Seonghwa looks especially happy, sitting between San and Wooyoung, talking and laughing with them. And much to Yunho’s confusion, San and Wooyoung don’t look like they’re being forced to sit there, a set-up by Hongjoong who always wants everyone to get along with everyone. No, they’re actively, _voluntarily_ talking to the oldest.

What the hell has he missed?

Hongjoong next to him fills his cup with coffee and puts food on his table. “Sleep well?”

Yunho beams at him. “Better than ever,” he replies with enthusiasm.

“If you’re—if you’re having troubles sleeping again, you can come sleep in my bed again. Only if you want to, of course,” Hongjoong suggests in a hushed voice that Yunho almost doesn’t fully get it.

Yunho raises his cup and clinks it with Hongjoong’s. “To a million years.”

After breakfast, they assemble again at the table. Hongjoong quickly gives them a summary of what he’s been doing when Yunho had joined him—he leaves that part out, however, because of Seonghwa-reasons. As it turns out he was successful skimming the books. He presents them a map that looks twice as old as himself with a red cross on one of the islands. _Misty Island_.

“It’s about two weeks away from here,” he says. “A port is close to our current position, so if there’s anyone who doesn’t want to look for the treasure with me—”

Wooyoung interrupts him on behalf of everyone. “Just set the course!”

Hongjoong smiles to himself and nods.

Sometime during their two-week journey to _Misty Island_ , the unspeakable happens. Mingi, who has proclaimed himself as Yunho’s best friend, gets closer with Hongjoong, who Mingi _knows_ is the love of his life, and Yunho isn’t exaggerating.

—Okay, maybe Yunho is being a little dramatic. He knows Mingi doesn’t have any interest in Hongjoong like Yunho does, but he still feels like he’s been stabbed in the back by the two of them when Hongjoong rejects Yunho’s invitation to stargazing together because he’s already promised Mingi they’d read a book together.

Yunho knows it’s immature and irrational to get upset over something like this. Hongjoong is his very own person and he can decide with who he wants to hang out. Besides, Yunho and Hongjoong have been spending _so_ much time together lately. But, really, Mingi?

Maybe it’s Hongjoong responsibility complex kicking in that he feels like he has to treat all of them equally.

Either way, at the end of the day, Yunho is all on his own, sulking and sitting on the floor without a best friend and a possible boyfriend.

“What are you sulking about?”

Yunho looks up into Seonghwa’s face. “I’m not sulking,” he pouts.

Seonghwa chuckles in response and sits down next to Yunho who is _not_ sulking. “Alright, then what are you moping about?”

“I’m not—you know what? Why don’t you go harass San and Wooyoung? You three seem to be so good friends now,” Yunho snaps.

“Why are you treating me like you don’t like me?”

Yunho has half a mind telling him, _because I do_. But that would have been a lie. He doesn’t directly dislike Seonghwa. He’s just greatly fed up with how Seonghwa keeps looking at him like he’s done something unforgivable when he passes Hongjoong the salt.

It’s irritating how he has to watch his back at every given time out of fear Seonghwa would just materialise in front of him and Hongjoong and put a safety distance of at least one metre between them. And he knows Hongjoong is slowly getting pissed off that he always has to consider Seonghwa before he does anything as well.—The time Yunho had moved to Hongjoong’s bed had been the last time Hongjoong had intentionally touched him. Yunho is even scared of picking Hongjoong up on his offer, because who knows, maybe Seonghwa will jump him because his over-sensitive Hongjoong-senses will realise he’s clearly surpassing that one-metre distance.

“I don’t know how you got _that_ idea,” Yunho says dryly. Then he adds: “Can we please not have this conversation right now? I’m not hating you if that’s what you wanna hear, now talk to me about something else or leave me alone.”

Much to his surprise, Seonghwa stays seated next to him. He’s silent before he taps Yunho’s shoulder and gestures up into the sky. “You see that constellation with the three stars over there?” He asks. Yunho follows the direction his fingers are pointing at, and then he nods. “That’s Pyxis. Or translated, it means compass. It’s part of the old constellation of Argo Navis, a ship of a hero of Greek mythology.”

Yunho is late to breakfast again, but this time he has Seonghwa to blame for keeping him up all night. It’s not his fault he knows so much about constellations _and_ Greek mythology.

Everyone’s eyes are trained on Hongjoong and Yeosang’s eyes got that mischievous look that means trouble when Yunho arrives.

“What’s happening?” he asks Jongho who looks like he just wants to eat his food in peace.

Jongho sighs. “Don’t ask me how this all started, but they’re currently trying to figure out Hongjoong’s ideal type. So far it’s looking good for you, buddy.”

Yunho’s eyebrows shoot up and disappear under his sleep-tousled hair.

Yeosang has his chin propped up on his palm and he stares down poor Hongjoong. “So you’re saying someone who listens to you,” he says.

Yunho mentally checks off that point. He’s always praised himself for being a good listener, and the number of times Hongjoong has babbled and babbled about anything to the point where he lost track of what he had wanted to say originally, show that Hongjoong feels very comfortable talking to him for ages.

But this applies also to Mingi, Seonghwa and San.

“And a nice smile, too,” Hongjoong adds, wincing at his words.

Yunho looks at Jongho who nods.

Another point for him. But also about everyone else on this damn ship, because Yunho might have eyes only for Hongjoong, but that doesn’t mean he’s blind for the rest of the world.

“The person has to be tall as well,” San chirps and Hongjoong looks like he wants to die on the spot. “At first Seonghwa, and now... _you know_. Hongjoong, you really do have a type.”

Hongjoong only realises now that Yunho has been present the whole time. He was too busy getting harassed by the younger ones that he had totally missed the way Yunho had slipped onto the seat in front of him (the seat next to him had already been taken, thank you very much, Mingi).

“Well, it’s really obvious who that person is,” Yeosang says and claps his hands like he’s fulfilled his duty here.

Mingi is probably just joking when he wraps his arm around Hongjoong’s tiny frame and presses a wet kiss on his cheek because everyone involved is laughing at his antics. But it sets something in Yunho off and he doesn’t say anything for the rest of the breakfast. And when he’s eaten up, he wordlessly takes his plate and carries it to the galley where he scrubs it clean for fifteen minutes, staring into the air in front of him.


	3. the start of a new beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Grand Finale. They find the treasure, but it's not really what they expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- last part yay  
> \- about 40% of this is super self-indulgent but i can't say i regret it too much.  
> \- once again, shoutout to fantasy names generators on the internet; i would have lost my mind trying to come up with names for places.  
> \- the island of doom is inspired by this one club i went to; it's basically a big area with different rooms for different types of music: for example charts, techno, rap etc. and i liked the idea so i reused it here.  
> \- for better imagination: misty island look like the island of madgascar (yes, the movie), with beaches on the outside, and the forest in the inner parts  
> \- also if you've made it this far then ily

Yunho doesn’t fully ignore Mingi and Hongjoong after the incident. He’s aware that ignoring someone on a ship is hardly possible, and it’s not even like they have done something unforgivable to him. But he just needs his couple of days of sulking, because, okay, he _is_ petty.

The biggest change in his daily life is probably not seeking out Hongjoong at every given time. He knows he’s putting the development of a possible relationship on stake, but a relationship is something between _two_ people—or more, he doesn’t judge—and Yunho can’t be the only one making steps into Hongjoong’s direction.

In the end, it’s Hongjoong who talks to him first. He tells Yunho to come into his quarters after dinner. Yunho is purposely 10 minutes late, and only partially because he’s still salty. The truth is, he’s shit scared, scared of what Hongjoong is going to tell him. He fears that Hongjoong is gonna say that he’s tired of Yunho making advances and tell him to stop trying. Because Yunho’s sure his world would crash into a million pieces at these words.

“I thought you wouldn’t come,” is the first thing Hongjoong says upon hearing Yunho come in. He’s looking sad where he’s sitting on his bed with his legs dangling off the edge. This isn’t a good sign.

“I wasn’t sure if I wanted to come,” replies Yunho, as he thinks back to 10 minutes ago where he gave himself a pep talk in an empty corner of the ship. He stands in the door, not sure if he’s invited to sit down on Hongjoong’s bed any longer.

“Don’t just stand there, you’re scaring me,” Hongjoong says and it’s kind of ironic. But Yunho sits down next to him either way. Hongjoong makes another, way too fucking long pause, and Yunho thinks he’s going to implode any second. He feels his heart in his throat, pulsating against his insides, and he feels like he’s going to throw up any moment now.

“Is everything alright?” Hongjoong sounds worried and he presses a soft hand against Yunho’s forehead. “You’re so pale.” Hongjoong’s hand against his sweaty skin feels like a droplet of water against a hot stone, but Yunho is still leaning into the familiar touch. It’s been so long since Hongjoong has shown him any attention like this, and Yunho feels like a starved man.

“We haven’t properly spoken for days, you’ve avoided me every day, and now you’re calling me into your quarters because you want to _talk_. So, you tell me: Is everything alright?” Yunho says hotly before he can even register it. “I’m scared of what you’re going to tell me, Hongjoong.” His voice is suddenly a mere whisper, his throat is dry and it’s painful to say any more words.

Hongjoong is horrified by Yunho’s outburst. “Do you think I’m going to tell you I don’t want to see you anymore?”

“Honestly? Yes, that’s exactly what I think.”

“Oh, Yunho,” he sighs. “You have no idea.”

“Then tell me, Hongjoong, tell me what you want to so badly, and let’s see if it’s worth me having a _stroke_ here.”

Hongjoong, clueless, adorable, stupid Hongjoong chuckles at that and Yunho is relieved.

“I’ve been thinking about you the whole time, but I didn’t reach out to you because. . . because I didn’t know if you felt the same way. I didn’t know if you were just playing with me, because you always flirted so _effortlessly_ like I was nothing special—”

Yunho almost jumps at Hongjoong throat at these words. As if he wasn’t so madly in love with him. “’Nothing special’?” he echoes. “Do you have any idea of how special you are to me, Hongjoong?”

Hongjoong makes a strangled noise in the back of his throat that sounds like he’s drowning.

Yunho continues. “You were the one who never replied to anything I did. I was left thinking that you didn’t like me as much as I liked you— _like_ you.”

“I—I know,” the older stammers. “I know, I’m bad at voicing out what I feel, but I thought my actions spoke louder than words could. And I wasn’t avoiding you, I thought you were angry with me so I let you alone.”

Yunho feels dumb. And stupid. And like an idiot. “Hongjoong I couldn’t be angry with you, _never_.”

Hongjoong has got a sheepish look on his face when he lays his hand on Yunho’s and asks: “Never in a million years?”

And Yunho breaks out into a smile. He knows they still have a lot of things to discuss and misunderstandings to sort out, but for now, they’re good and Hongjoong is smiling again.

///

Now, Jongho loves his older brothers a lot, he really does. Over time, they’ve all grown on him, and as sappy as it sounds—and he’d never admit it out loud in public—he couldn’t go without them anymore. He loves spending time with any of them, no matter if it’s just sitting next to one another and reading a book, or if it’s sharing deep secrets. They’re sometimes babying him, and he’s pretending he doesn’t like it because he’s a grown adult, thank you very much, but he enjoys the attention and care.

So, yes, he loves them. But it’s so frustrating to see them pining for each other but not doing _anything_ about it. And with them, he means Hongjoong and Yunho. At one point, he knows, he’ll just snap and smash their lips together.

And what makes it even worse is when both of them come to him for advice. _Jongho, do you think I’m handsome?_ , _Do you think Yunho will like this new hairstyle?_ , _Does Hongjoong like men who can cook?_

Really, Jongho is not getting paid enough for the mental torture he has to go through every day.

But thankfully, living on a ship with seven other people doesn’t become too boring. He does get a break from being the moral support of his two friends who can’t their heads out of their asses and just fucking confess—

Anyways.

Jongho is pretty sure San is hiding something from them. And Wooyoung is most likely involved in that secret as well because they’re inseparable soulmates and what else they call each other.

So, when Wooyoung and San sneak out one night they don’t know Jongho isn’t asleep like the rest. As soon as they’re out of Jongho’s sight, he quietly pushes the blanket off his body and follows them. He tries his best to stay quiet, completely soundless because he doesn’t know how well he’ll be able to pull off the excuse of just needing to go to the toilet.

Wooyoung and San are alone on the deck. Wooyoung has an oil lamp in his hands and he’s walking to the railing with San next to him. He isn’t close enough to make out what they’re saying, and their backs are facing him, so he can’t see their faces either.

Then sparse light coming from the sky and Wooyoung’s lamp are making it difficult to see, but Jongho can already feel his eyes getting used to the new circumstances. A few metres away from them, he sees three barrels, and if he’s able to get behind them without getting noticed, he’ll definitely hear and see more. Wooyoung laughs at something San has said, and Jongho takes their temporal distraction as his cue to hide from his current hideout and sneak over to the barrels.

He sends a quick thank you to the sky when he manages to arrive safely without getting caught. Over the blood rushing in his ears, he’s finally able to hear what they’re saying.

“It’s been a good idea to do this more often than just once a month. It’s really more convenient like this,” he hears Wooyoung say and San makes a sound of affirmation.

Jongho’s jaw drops when he sees what happens next. He rubs his eyes, blinks a few times and looks in their direction again. Yup, San’s still taking off his shirt and pants which makes him stand there stark naked except for his underwear. Jongho can make out a big, scar on his slim torso, that reaches almost over his entire backside. Jongho can’t fathom where the scar had come from, but it must have been extremely painful for San.

A thought crosses Jongho’s mind, and he wonders if he’s being a creep for watching them, but Wooyoung doesn’t look like he’s gonna take off his own clothes any moment, so he lets out a silent breath of relief. That doesn’t explain what the fuck San is doing there, naked, in the middle of the night.

And then he’s jumping off the ship into the water.

Jongho almost yelps and jumps out of his hidden space, but once again, Wooyoung’s reaction is what catches him off guard. Wooyoung doesn’t look alarmed, doesn’t scream after him to come back, so there must be a logical explanation for this, right?

Carefully, Jongho raises his body to peak over the railing and look at where San has dived into the dark sea. To his surprise, he sees San’s torso above the water, and he doesn’t look like he’s drowning. In fact, he looks pretty content in the ice-cold water. He waves at Wooyoung and then dives down. Jongho manages to catch a glimpse of his red fin—

Jongho almost passes out.

He slaps his face once and then another time, not caring that Wooyoung might hear him, but he doesn’t wake up in his bed. He searches the ocean for San, but there’s no trace of him. Had Jongho been hallucinating? It _is_ dark, and it’s more than possible that Jongho has simply imagined things. Or the water could have played a trick on his mind with the light jumping off the waves and creating all kinds of forms.

“Take care of yourself, Sannie,” Wooyoung mutters, more to himself, looking into the width of the ocean.

That means Jongho isn’t hallucinating. San is a merman. Half fish. A human with a fin.

What the hell.

When Jongho wakes up the next morning, he can meet neither San’s nor Wooyoung’s eyes. It isn’t that he’s creeped out by the thought of one of his fellow friends turning out to be not entirely human. Okay, well, Jongho needs some time to wrap his head around it, but San is still his friend and so is Wooyoung.

It’s just. Jongho really needs to talk about it. Maybe it’s a form of processing this newly gained information, but he really needs someone to share opinions about it with. And he can’t just go up to them and tell them he’s stalked them the night before and now knows one of San’s deepest secrets. Because he also has to consider that San and Wooyoung probably have a reason that they’re keeping it from everyone else. Jongho feels hurt when he thinks about the times he’s told San every little secret he has had ever since he was a little boy, and now he has to find out San hasn’t been playing with entirely open cards in return.

Going to talk to others about it isn’t the most morally correct thing to do either, but if he’s asking the opponent for total discretion, he figures it’s not too bad.

The first person he goes to is Seonghwa.

“What do you mean, you’ve seen San turning into a merman last night?” Seonghwa looks at him with an unreadable look that Jongho is so tired of seeing. He just wants to know what’s going on inside his head.

“I swear, I’m not some pervert, but I followed them yesterday when they sneaked away. And then I saw San jumping into the water and suddenly he had a tail,” Jongho elaborates with a whiny voice and shakes Seonghwa’s arm. “And I don’t know what to tell them, but I have to talk to them about it.”

Seonghwa shushes him. “I think you’ve just made up things.”

“But—”

“You were probably very tired last night, and you didn’t think clearly.” He feels around Jongho’s face. “Your skin feels warm, too. Maybe you’re coming down with a fever.”

Jongho pouts but accepts his defeat. When he walks away, he touches his face himself. It doesn’t feel warm at all.

His next victim is Hongjoong.

But Jongho’s about as lucky with him as he had been with Seonghwa before. Hongjoong isn’t paying half his attention to what Jongho has to say, too busy admiring Yunho from a safe distance. Yunho isn’t even _doing_ anything, just standing there and tying the ropes. Jongho would find it endearing, really, to see Hongjoong this in love with someone who so obviously feels the same about him, but he’s also kind of having a crisis here, and if Hongjoong would just listen to him, that would be great.

“I’m sorry, Jongho, what did you say?” Hongjoong blinks a few times and supplies an apologetic smile.

“Ah, doesn’t matter,” Jongho says. And because he’s kind of irked by Hongjoong’s behaviour, he adds: “You’re busy at the moment, anyway, so I’m leaving you to yourself.”

Hongjoong blushes and Jongho wonders if he really had thought he was being low-key about his ogling. He laughs at his friend and then walks off.

He considers going to the others and try his luck there, after his two failed attempts, because third time’s the charm, right? But he decides against it. Because what if there’s someone trying to stop him from spreading San’s secret? He could still go to and talk to San himself, the cause of all this, but he’s still unsure of what to say to him.

When Wooyoung and San get up at night a few days later again, Jongho just rolls over and falls asleep again.

“Who of you has been on the _Island of Doom_ ?” Hongjoong asks them the next day during breakfast.

Jongho can’t say himself he has been there and looking around, no one else can either.

“With a name like that, I daresay I’m glad I haven’t been there,” Seonghwa says, munching on his bread. “That doesn’t sound like a type of place I’d enjoy being at.”

Hongjoong chuckles. “No, no, it’s not like that,” he says quickly. “It’s a place where everyone from all around the world goes to have fun. There are bars, restaurants, dance floors. I’ve been there once, and the atmosphere was phenomenal.”

Mingi asks, “Why are you telling us all this?” and Jongho already has an idea why.

“I looked over the map this morning, and I realised it’s en route to _Misty Island_ , so I thought, why not make a stop there?” Hongjoong explains, and the responses he’s getting are immediate and loud.

They reach the _Island of Doom_ just a day later, and Hongjoong definitely hasn’t promised too much. Contrary to other busy places all over the world, this place isn’t loaded with puking drunkards and women pressing themselves onto anyone. The _Island of Doom_ seems like a more cultivated place, and while Jongho would have dreaded visiting a place that solely exists for the sake of having fun, he can already see himself enjoying his time here.

///

“What’s a man like you doing in a place like this?”

Hongjoong laughs and watches Yunho sit across from him, and takes the glass of whiskey he’s being handed. “I’m waiting for someone to have fun with tonight.”

Hongjoong has swapped his usual pirate attire to something more formal in order to fit the place they’re currently in. He’s wearing a crisp shirt and black pants—nothing extravagant but Yunho is so used to seeing him in the same clothes every day, that he feels like he’s making an entirely new discovery. He thinks he even sees some red colour on Hongjoong’s lips and he’s about to lose his mind.

The others have run off somewhere. He thinks some are in the same room as they are, but he thinks he remembers Seonghwa, San and Wooyoung running off to another bar to explore as much from this new island as possible. Yunho is strangely glad about that—don’t get him wrong, he loves spending with every single one of their little crew. But there’s something possessive coming up in Yunho when he’s seeing Hongjoong all dolled up like this, and he wants to keep him all to himself and for no one else to see.

Yunho takes a gulp from his own glass as he watches Hongjoong do the same. Feeling bold, he says: “So am I.”

Hongjoong doesn’t respond anything to that, but Yunho’s feeling the tension between them. A quartet of piano, violin, drums and a singer is playing music in the background and it adds to the crackling air between the two. Yunho loves this, the flirting between them until one of them snaps and does something. The night is still young which means they have a lot of time to wait for the first one to lose control.

They don’t say anything for a while. Yunho is listening to the music, his foot tapping against the leg of the table and he watches the light of the fire flick over Hongjoong’s beautiful face. Hongjoong is somewhere else again, has drifted off to who knows where and his unfixed gaze is locked on the drink in Yunho’s hand. Yunho would _love_ to know what’s running through his head this moment. Is it the mission or is it maybe Yunho?

“Do you want to dance?” Yunho asks suddenly, startling Hongjoong with it.

Hongjoong bites on his tongue and looks at Yunho almost fearfully. “I-I can’t dance that well,” he admits, ducking his head.

Yunho is having none of that. He stands up, losing the connection to his brain for a second after sitting for so long _and_ having two whiskeys. He stretches his hand out for Hongjoong to take. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll guide you.”

Hongjoong’s being stubborn. “I’m serious, Yunho. I can barely dance without tripping or stomping on your feet.”

“And I’m serious when I say I don’t care,” the younger one insists. “Let me have this one dance with you, and when you’re really that terrible, I’ll save you from any more dances.”

Hongjoong grumbles something under his breath which Yunho doesn’t and doesn’t want to catch, and he reluctantly gets up and takes Yunho’s hand, but not before downing his glass of whiskey.

Yunho carries them to the dance floor, to the middle, with people around them from every side. He takes Hongjoong’s hand in his right, his other hand gently rests on his waist. Hongjoong blushes at the gesture but intertwines their fingers and his other hand lays on top of Yunho’s shoulder.

They softly sway in rhythm to the music, nothing exciting, just testing the waters. Yunho twirls Hongjoong around once, but when Hongjoong threatens to leave Yunho this instant, he promises to not do it again. At times, they bump into another couple, but none of them registers it well enough to apologise, with how they’re focused on each other. Yunho doesn’t know if he’s just imagining it with his fuzzy brain due to the alcohol, but he swears Hongjoong’s eyes keep flicking to his lips.

“I really don’t see the untalented dancer you’ve claimed to be, Hongjoong,” Yunho says teasingly into Hongjoong’s ear over the loud music.

“That’s funny coming from you, you dance god,” Hongjoong retorts bitterly.

Yunho has to admit he’s flattered at the comment, especially when it’s coming from Hongjoong. “Why, thank you. But seriously, you’re really good at this.”

Hongjoong pauses before he replies. “I’ve had Seonghwa give me a last-minute crash course in dance today,” he admits.

Without realising, Yunho’s hand tightens around Hongjoong’s waist, and he wouldn’t have noticed if it hadn’t been for Hongjoong gasping at that. He apologies and relaxes again.

“Really, is he riling you up when he’s not even here?” This time it’s Hongjoong with the teasing undertone, and Yunho knows this is on him.

“I can’t help it,” he says, not even bothering to come up with an excuse. “I know it’s dumb, but I get jealous when he’s looking at you like the way he always does.”

Hongjoong straight-up laughs at Yunho, and suddenly he feels small and vulnerable even though he’s quite literally towering over Hongjoong.

“You’re still jealous of him when you already know he doesn’t stand a chance against you?” Hongjoong asks again.

“But do I? Do I really stand chance against him?” Yunho asks back.

Hongjoong furrows his eyebrows at that. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean, sometimes we’re talking about spending our lives together, and, hell, I’m even sleeping in your bed, but then suddenly I’m getting ignored and it’s like you’re denying what you’ve said to me ten minutes ago. I’m risking a lot when I spend time with you, open myself up for you, but sometimes I feel like I’m talking to a brick wall.” Yunho honestly hasn’t expected him to lash out like this, but he reasons it must be the alcohol giving him a looser tongue tonight.

“I know,” Hongjoong admits. Yunho is impressed by how he can still keep up the dancing whiles he’s looking so shuttered. “I know I’m treating you unfair, but it’s just, I feel bad when I’m spending so much time with you and not focusing on the others so much because I don’t want them thinking I’m having favourites.—I mean, you’re quite obviously my favourite, but. . . I think you know what I’m trying to say here.” Hongjoong seems to be as affected by the alcohol as Yunho is, maybe even more. His words are getting more slurred with each sentence he says. “And then there’s also Seonghwa who looks like he’s going to cry whenever he sees us talking to each other.”

Yunho wants to hit him for having such a big and pure heart. “Hongjoong, this isn’t about them. They know about _us_ and they all understand that we’re spending time together more often than with others. Besides, there’s six more of us, so you can’t tell me they can’t entertain themselves without you.”

Hongjoong pulls a grimace and looks at their moving feet but he doesn’t say anything. Yunho’s sure he’s getting the message.

“And as for Seonghwa; I think he’s come to terms with the fact that your relationship has been over for very long. And I get that you’re feeling bad for it, but this isn’t about him or San or Wooyoung or anyone else—this is about you, Hongjoong. What do _you_ want?”

Hongjoong lets the words sink in before he raises his gaze again and looks at Yunho. “This. I want this.”

And Yunho seriously couldn’t be happier. He makes sure to show Hongjoong his affection by pulling him closer and enclosing his small fingers tighter in his grip. “Me too,” he says, almost whispers and Hongjoong beams. The older lets his head rest on Yunho’s shoulder as they continue dancing, letting the music wash over them as they just exist in their own small world. Yunho wonders if Hongjoong can hear his heartbeat and if it’s as fast as his own.

The song ends and Hongjoong is ready to flee the dance floor, but then the music fades into another, slower song, and Yunho is absolutely going to break his promise he made Hongjoong earlier. He grips Hongjoong’s hand tightly, making it unable for him to run off.

“But Yunho, you promised me,” Hongjoong whines as he realises he can’t win against Yunho.

“I said when you’re terrible, I won’t make you dance more, but you weren’t so you’re staying here with me,” Yunho says smugly and grins down onto Hongjoong.

Hongjoong narrows his eyes but stops fighting against Yunho’s body. “You’re unbelievable.”

Yunho presses their bodies closer to one another, their chests touching and their faces centimetres apart. Yunho takes the lead in moving them in rhythm to the staccato tunes coming from the band, and Hongjoong even manages to be good at improvising this dance as well. Yunho tries to get rid of the thought of Seonghwa and Hongjoong dancing this close.

They end the impromptu dance on the beat with the end of the music, chests heaving as they stare into each other’s eyes. Yunho is dying to kiss Hongjoong and to feel the soft lips that are so often pulled down into a pout, but the night is still young and he’s not ready to give in yet.

“They’re not going to let us live after this,” Hongjoong says thoughtfully, but there’s no regret in the way he says it.

They’re taking a walk at the beach, clearing their heads up and trying to sober up as much as possible. The sun has long set, but the lights coming from the numerous bars and restaurants serve as a light source which is enough for them to not trip. Yunho also knows, if he had spent one more minute in that room with its hot, heady atmosphere, he wouldn’t have been able to contain himself, but he doesn’t let Hongjoong know that.

They both have pulled off their shoes and they let the waves curl around their naked feet. Their pinkies are linked and they’re walking without any real direction whatsoever, but Yunho thinks he’s seeing the _Aurora_ in the distance. Yunho feels light-headed and he must have saved a country in one of his past lives to be granted this experience.

“I don’t mind,” Yunho answers, two beats too late. “You gave me the best dance I’ve ever had, and if they’re making fun of that, that’s their problem.”

“You’re just saying that because you’re whipped. And drunk.”

“That’s probably true,” replies Yunho wistfully, pulling at Hongjoong’s pinkie, making Hongjoong end up in his arms, arms wrapped around Yunho’s waist. Yunho lays his arm over Hongjoong’s shoulder and presses a kiss on the top of Hongjoong’s head. He doesn’t think Hongjoong notices, and even if he does, Yunho doesn’t care.

Yunho wakes up with a headache, and he knows he should have seen that one coming. Even though he’s been living together with a pirate, who are stereotyped for their excessive alcohol consumption, for some time now, he can’t say he’s turned into an alcoholic himself. Just when he wonders since when he’s getting a hangover from two glasses of whiskey, he remembers that, after coming back to the ship, he and Hongjoong had shared a bottle of something old with high percentage.

He’s in Hongjoong’s bed. He peeks under the covers and _thank God_ he’s still wearing clothes. Hongjoong stirs next to him at the movement and Yunho forgets to breathe for a moment at the visual. Hongjoong is wearing Yunho’s pullover; he must have given it to him last night because Hongjoong freezes so easily. The man in question is smiling to himself in his sleep with the covers pulled up to his chin.

“Morning,” Hongjoong greets him after a moment, still smiling and peeks open one eye.

Yunho is too endeared and too hungover to reply with words so he just smiles back at Hongjoong.

They have their first meal of the day at 2 in the afternoon, because Yunho and Hongjoong apparently hadn’t been the only ones enjoying a few drinks last night. San has it the worst: he looks like a walking corpse and he glares at about anyone whenever he speaks too loudly. Seonghwa looks as fresh as ever, and Yunho guesses he’s stayed sober to keep an eye on the rest. He makes them a special drink to cure their headaches and Yunho is surprised to feel its effectiveness just ten minutes after downing the weird greenish substance.

“Do you remember anything you’ve said last night?” Hongjoong asks Yunho when they have a moment to themselves.

“You mean when we got back to the ship and got even more drunk?” Hongjoong nods. “I barely remember anything,” Yunho says. “I just know that you kept insisting on sitting in my lap, and that’s it. Sorry.”

Hongjoong nods slowly and makes an ‘ah’-sound. He avoids Yunho’s eyes.

“Why? Did I do anything embarrassing last night? If I did, I’m sorry, I can never control myself when I’m drunk,” Yunho says hastily. Oh God, what if he’s done anything that has upset Hongjoong and now he hates him.

“No, no, don’t worry, it’s fine, you didn’t embarrass yourself,” Hongjoong says and waves the topic off. But Yunho knows him better, and he senses there’s something else, but he doesn’t pry on it.

A couple of minutes later, they’re en route to _Misty Island_ again and Yunho has other things to worry about.

///

There’s a shift in Yunho’s and Hongjoong’s dynamic. San notices that, but he can’t quite put his finger on what’s different now. Hongjoong keeps throwing Yunho these unreadable and undefinable glances that go completely unnoticed by him, and San guesses something must have happened between them last night that changed a great deal between them.

Speaking of last night, San’s head has finally stopped to figuratively implode whenever does as much as breathing. Seonghwa’s weird-smelling _thing_ really has helped him with his killer headache, and looking around the round of equally ex-hungover guys, he can speak for the others as well. Well, everyone except for Seonghwa, who has volunteered to stay sober while he accompanied Wooyoung and him from bar to bar, because he knows how affected these two get by alcohol. The only time Seonghwa has been tempted to down the bar’s entire alcohol stash was when they had found the bar Hongjoong and Yunho were in by total accident. They had managed to enter just to see the two dancing around the dance floor, their bodies pressed together, gazes locked. San had enough rationality in him left at that time to shoo Seonghwa out of the bar.

Maybe that’s what caused the transformation. Because as far as San is concerned, they have never gone out and done something this bold before.

But that isn’t San’s business, and he really should stop himself from intruding into other people’s private lives.

Four days later, they finally reach _Misty Island_ and Hongjoong looks like he’s about to cry when they reach the shore. San can’t blame him; he must have waited for ages for this moment, and finally being able to set a foot on the island he’s been occupied with for the better part of his life must be overwhelming.

They follow him on the island. The sun is shining warmly onto their faces, but it’s not too hot. A warm breeze sweeps through the palm trees and ruffles through their hair. The blue water fades into the perfect, soft white sand and San promptly takes off his shoes to feel it. The trees are a healthy green and they blend into the soft blue sky effortlessly. The whole landscape looks like it’s been painted, and San briefly wonders if they’ve entered the paradise.

“I’ve waited so long for this moment,” Hongjoong declares. His voice is seeping happiness and San can’t even begin to express how happy he is for Hongjoong.

“We’re lucky the treasure isn’t hidden on a rocky island or the North pole,” Yeosang deadpans and everyone breaks out into laughter.

“You’re right, it could have been gradually worse,” Hongjoong agrees.

They soak up the new environment for some more time. San lets himself fall into the plush sand, letting it glide through his fingers as he stretches his head to the sun like a flower. The waves reach his toes and they tickle his sensitive skin. He can’t hold back the giggle that’s bubbling up in his throat. He’s just so _happy._

“Alright guys, let’s explore this place,” Hongjoong says, and he’s buzzing with excitement. “If you see anything that looks like the things on the map, let me know immediately.”

Almost unwillingly, San gets up from his spot in the sand. He dusts off his pants and follows the group.

“I think these trees here are this magical forest or whatever it’s called,” Seonghwa declares, pointing at the endless mass of trees to their left.

“You mean the forest of endless green waves,” Hongjoong corrects him with a playful slap on the arm. “But you could be right,” he adds then.

They continue their walk along the beach. San’s walking along wordlessly and he takes his opportunity to go closer to the sea and lets his feet cool in the water. The water has always had a magnetic effect on him, basically luring him into the waves and this time it’s no different.

“Isn’t that a mountain?” Wooyoung suddenly exclaims. He excitedly points at a large mountain that looks like a volcano which seems to be located in the heart of the island. Hongjoong pulls out his map and compares the real-life mountain to the drawing on the paper. The similarity is obvious and the smile on Hongjoong spreads even wider. “Now we only have to find the lagoon.”

And it doesn’t take long until they spot the last piece of the map. They almost miss it, as it has an underwater entrance, hadn’t it been for Mingi commenting on how the stones on the canyon look like faces. The lagoon has to be inside the rock, and for now, they don’t think about how they’ll get there.

They retreat to a more shaded place under the palm trees because the sun is starting to reach a dangerous heat. San keeps his feet in the water because, evidently, the drying heat is affecting him more than the others. Seonghwa notices and makes sure San is sitting in the shadows the whole time and lets some water dribble onto his skin occasionally.

Hongjoong and Yeosang are hovering above the map, discussing feverishly. “I think there’s a key or something similar at each of these places, and when combined, they make a new key for the treasure,” San hears Yeosang say.

“But where is the actual treasure located then?” Hongjoong asks back.

“Maybe we’ll find hints on the partial keys,” Yeosang offers.

Hongjoong doesn’t look too happy with the vague suggestions Yeosang is making, but it seems like he doesn’t have any better ideas. He’s silent for a while and studies the piece of paper further. “Here, look. It says ‘the golden mountain of sunrise’ and ‘the lagoon of the second sunset’, which means the daytime plays an important role, so—”

“—so it means we start with the mountains and end with the lagoon?” Yeosang finishes for him. Hongjoong nods with excitement. Yeosang continues, “Here’s what I’m thinking: when the sun is rising, it shines with that golden light, do you know what I mean? So, if we’re there at the exact time of sunrise, maybe we’ll find a hint or a key.”

Hongjoong makes a noise of agreement. “That’s my thoughts exactly!” They high-five each other, and San chuckles at their playfulness. “I’m not sure what the ‘second sunset’ is supposed to mean,” Hongjoong trails off. Yeosang remains silent as well. San bites his tongue from saying anything.

Hongjoong looks around to get everyone’s attention, undoubtedly to tell them about their new discoveries, only to see their conversation had already been the focus of everybody’s attention.

“And what about the forest?” Yunho asks as he clinks himself into the conversation. “Does it mean we can go there whenever we want?”

Jongho is the one who answers. “I think the most plausible thing is if we went there exactly at noon, the middle between sunrise and sunset,” he says. “When the sun is in its zenith, maybe the leaves look even greener?” Jongho tries and laughs.

Hongjoong makes a thoughtful face at that. “That’s a good idea, Jongho. I didn’t think of it that way.”

“Now, the only unclear thing is the meaning of two sunsets.”

And for the second time, San can’t keep his mouth shut. “I know what it means,” he blurts out. Wooyoung seems to sense where this is going and sends him a warning glare. But San can’t let Hongjoong be so close to his goal and then proceed to fail the mission just because he had decided to stay silent. “Merpeople call it the second sunset, because, when the sun is setting, it emits a very bright light, just like over the water, but it’s even more overwhelming underwater. And because it’s so bright and stunning, it’s gotten an own name.”

The silence is constricting and San almost regrets it. Almost.

“How come you know so much about people living underwater?” Yeosang tilts his head to the side as he looks at San with a calculating look.

“Well, that’s because—”

“San,” Wooyoung warns. Seonghwa is also staring at him like he can’t believe San and what he is about to do.

“I’m a merman,” San says finally. It feels good to be able to say it after so long, after hiding it from everyone for what feels like half an eternity. He feels like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders, and now he can finally breathe freely again.

Many things happen at once after San tells them his probably deepest secret. Wooyoung and Seonghwa, the only ones knowing about it, shake their heads at him. Jongho raises his arms against the sky and thanks the Almighty. Yeosang and Hongjoong clasp their hands in front of their mouths in unison. Yunho and Mingi share a look before they look at San like they can’t believe him.

“I thought I was going insane,” Jongho says and he sounds so grateful. “I saw you the other night, and I saw how you shifted, San, but when I talked to Seonghwa he just said I was imagining things.— _Oh_ ,” he makes then and looks between San and Seonghwa. “You _knew_ and set me on a wrong track to keep San’s secret.” Jongho looks betrayed at Seonghwa, his friend with whom he’s built such a strong bond.

Seonghwa nods like it was nothing. San feels warm in his chest at the thought of Seonghwa guarding his secret that he went so far as lying to Jongho even though he has never asked him to. “I found out by accident the night Hongjoong told you about the map,” Seonghwa explains.

“That’s why you were suddenly such good friends!” Yunho looks like he’s just made a giant discovery, even bigger than the fact that his friend is part-time fish. “You bonded over that secret.”

“Well, not quite,” Seonghwa says shrugging. “But it’s helped to get closer a lot.”

“I thought Wooyoung was the one with the secret?” Hongjoong seems like he still hasn’t fully grasped this new revelation.

“Seonghwa has misunderstood, that time he dragged us to your quarters. He had been listening to us but drew false conclusions,” Wooyoung explains for him. “And we decided it’d be better if we just left it at that before we made a mistake, you know?”

“Now that you mention it, why were you hiding from us in the first place?” Hongjoong asks.

San and Wooyoung share a nervous glance and San rubs his neck awkwardly. Wooyoung speaks up. “I was afraid of you finding out so I thought it’d be better if we ran away. Looking back, I’m glad Seonghwa found us before it came that far.”

Hongjoong doesn’t look mad. If anything, he looks understanding and smiles nodding.

“Then why don’t you have a tail right now?” Yeosang asks.

“I can shift to my human or merman form whenever I want,” San says. It feels oddly good being able to share his experiences and just talk about this part of his life with his closest friends. “I’ve been living as a human ever since Wooyoung found me when we were kids.”

San thinks back at that moment with happiness. He’d been so curious about the world of the humans for all his life, and sometimes he’d even swim to one of the beaches and just watch them walk around with their legs. It’d been unplanned that somebody would find him, but when he’d seen Wooyoung, San knew he’d found his soulmate in him. They met up every day since then at the same place, and when San’s family had died that one day, Wooyoung had immediately offered him a place to live.

“I have to change once in a while, but apart from that, I can live a life just like you,” San continues. “And when I don’t, my body starts to force-change, and let’s just say it’s not the most pleasant thing in the world. That’s how Seonghwa found out, by the way.”

San understands they’re needing time to process this new information, but he’s also finding the silence quite awkward and he’d prefer if someone said _anything_.

Thankfully, Hongjoong speaks up again. “So, does that mean you’ll be able to enter the cave? Because I’m not sure if anyone of us can hold their breath for that long.”

San laughs and nods. “Of course I’m gonna do it.”

They decide to actively look for treasure the next day and take the rest of the day off to enjoy themselves at the beach. They also divide into groups, each assigned to one of the three places: Mingi, Yeosang and Jongho will climb the mountain, Seonghwa, Hongjoong and Yunho will look through the forest and Wooyoung and San have been assigned to the lagoon.

Considering the mountain team has to be there by sunrise, they go to bed relatively early in order to be fit the next morning. The rest stays outside for longer, lighting a fire when it starts getting chilly and they share stories from their childhood. All in all, they’re having a bonding experience and San loves it.

///

If there’s one thing Mingi hates, _loathes_ , it’s getting up early.

He would have probably just rolled over and continued sleeping if Jongho hadn’t been so insistent on getting him to wake up fully. Mingi doesn’t even dare to ask what the time is because he knows it’d just serve as a reason to stay in bed longer. Jongho is sitting on his legs, an oil lamp dangling in his hand as he slaps Mingi’s chest repeatedly.

Yeosang wakes up easier but that doesn’t mean he does it with joy. Jongho just has a habit of being annoying when he wants to, and right now he’s making use of his secret weapon.

Some of the others stir in their sleep, but they don’t even open their eyes. Mingi is so envious.

They leave the sleeping room on tiptoes and darkness awaits them outside. Thankfully the climate is warm and even though it’s still deep in the night, it’s agreeable. But Mingi wouldn’t mind some sunrays right now.

“Do you have the map?” Jongho asks and it’s unfair how awake he sounds.

Yeosang holds up the pieces of paper—the treasure map, as well as a general map of the island—up and they start their part of the mission.

The ship is situated relatively close to the beach, but they still have to make their way through some of the shallow water. Yeah, not the best way to improve Mingi’s mood. But he isn’t a foreigner to _uncomfortable_ missions like this. With his former pirate crew—he’s still bitter when he thinks about how they’ve left him—he used to pull all kinds of crazy stunts. The memories are giving him a strange sentimental feeling in his gut that he doesn’t want to be feeling, so he focuses on the task at hand.

Yeosang is following the map closely to make sure they’re not getting on the wrong path and Jongho helps him by holding the lamp over it.

“How long till the sun rises?” Mingi asks, trying to cover up that he almost tripped over a root on the ground.

“One hour and a half,” comes Jongho’s reply. “We still have plenty of time, but I suggest we move as quickly as possible, you know, just in case.”

Mingi almost retorts that he hadn’t been planning on walking on slow-motion but he thinks it’s not fair to let his frustration at getting up so early out at the youngest. It isn’t Mingi’s fault that he’s not a morning person, but neither is it Jongho’s or Yeosang’s.

“Yes, sir,” he replies instead with a mock salute and Jongho’s ears turn red.

“What kind of treasure do you think we’ll find?” Yeosang asks, his eyes glistening with the flame.

“I guess it’s gonna be a chest full of jewels or gold or something,” Mingi shrugs.

“Really?” Yeosang’s widen even more.

“Guys, what if the gold is cursed,” Jongho interjects. “Then all of this would have been in vain.”

Yeosang looks up from his map. “What do you mean, ‘cursed’?”

“Haven’t you heard about cursed treasures? Pirates turning immortal and going crazy because of it, or getting obsessed with the gold that they kill everyone who comes close to it recklessly,” Jongho says and Mingi sees his figure shivering.

“I don’t know, there are worse things than having so much gold that it makes you go crazy,” Yeosang says easily and returns to lead them the right way.

The deeper they walk into the forest, the harder it gets to stay on the right path. They continuously have to dodge under thick branches and stems, and Yeosang even walks straight into a spider web that has him screeching inhumanly loud. At least all of them are fully awake now.

Jongho, the only one with functioning brain cells in their group, breaks a strong branch off a tree and starts using it to get most of the hindrances on eye-level out of their way. If it had just been Yeosang and Mingi in a group, they would have absolutely walked into every spider web and other things Mingi doesn’t even want to think about.

Mingi doesn’t know how much time passes but soon enough, they reach the foot of the mountain rather unharmed. They all sport some scratches on arms and face but it’ll heal in no time. There are no distracting trees or plants here either, which makes it way easier to climb up the mountain. There’s even a semi-path leading them upwards.

With new-found motivation and the relief of knowing that the worst is behind them, they make it to the top of the mountain relatively quickly. Their chests are heaving when they arrive, and Mingi feels like he’s about to pass out, but that doesn’t stop him from pumping the fist in the air in victory.

Just minutes later, the sun is starting to creep up the ocean.

“Quick, look for anything that looks like something we’re looking for,” Jongho orders, already running around.

“And what are we looking for?” Mingi wants to know just as hectic.

“I don’t know!” Jongho almost screams. “But I’m sure we’ll recognise it when we see it.”

Jongho’s advice sucks ass but Mingi forgives him. The guy is trying his best, and he’s just as clueless as the other two here.

So, the three walk around the plateau on top of the mountain, turning every stone and pushing away every leaf while almost obsessively looking over their shoulders to see how far the sun has come.

Mingi knows this isn’t the only chance they’re having, they can try again tomorrow, but he feels a strange responsibility to the others; they’re counting on the success of this mission, and he can’t let them down.

And if Yeosang would stop mumbling _golden_ the whole time, that’d be great.

The sun reaches the place where it dips everything into its golden light. Mingi halts for a moment that he can’t afford to look around. Everything looks so peaceful so early in the morning; droplets of water are glistening on the grass, and they look like tiny jewels. Birds are starting to wake up, filling the air with their songs.

“That’s it!” Yeosang pulls him out of his momentary enamoredness with his excited scream.

Jongho and Mingi quickly join him. Like a madman, Yeosang is staring at the rock right in the middle of the plateau as if he’s waiting for something to jump out.

“What exactly are we looking at, Yeosang?” Jongho tries carefully, to not startle him.

“The golden light has almost entirely enveloped this rock, just wait for a bit longer,” Yeosang says cryptically, not really answering Jongho’s question whatsoever.

“How do we know this is where it’s hidden?” asks Mingi this time.

“We don’t, but I have a feeling it is,” Yeosang mumbles, eyes still fixated on the rock in front of him.

Now, the rock is entirely covered in the golden light, and if Mingi hadn’t known better, he would have guessed it consisted of solid gold.

“Oh, what’s this?” Jongho leans forward, reaching into a crack untouched by the sun. He seems to have found something if his surprised gasp is anything to go by. “I think I’ve found it.”

///

Yunho thinks he’ll never get used to waking up next to Hongjoong. It’s the best way to start the day, and he hopes he’ll never have to give this up. Hongjoong is already awake, is sitting up, with a book opened up in his lap, but he’s looking somewhere else, biting his fingernails worryingly.

“They’ll be fine,” Yunho reassures him after swallowing the cotton in his mouth.

“We don’t know that,” Hongjoong replies. “We don’t know anything. For all I know I could have sent them right into their death.”

Yunho sits up, rubs the sleep out of his eyes. “You didn’t send them into anything, this was their very own choice. You’ve given them plenty of possibilities to leave this mission.”

Hongjoong stays silent and Yunho congratulates himself for making such a compelling argument that even the king of worrying himself is wordless. He squeezes Hongjoong’s hand and then swings out of bed, for some reason in an amazing mood.

“Let’s make breakfast.”

He should have known Hongjoong wouldn’t get down a single bite with how nervous he is, even after Yunho’s pep talk. Neither Seonghwa nor Yunho can animate him to get something in his stomach, and they both know better than to provoke him further.

“What are you guys expecting from today? What do you think we’ll find?” Wooyoung asks with a glint in his eyes.

“My dad has never mentioned any stashes of gold,” Hongjoong says. “So I don’t really know what to expect. The only thing I know is that my mum has told me it’s of endless worth.”

“But that means it has to be gold or jewels,” Yunho insists. “What else could be of such worth?”

The rest shrugs when they don’t come up with an answer to his question.

“Maybe we’ll find a place of endless knowledge,” Seonghwa muses, quite true to his character. “An oracle or an ancient library. Hongjoong’s dad has always treasured knowledge and wisdom so that’d fit.”

As he says that, he looks at Yunho with a challenging look, like he’s rubbing it into Yunho’s face that Hongjoong and he were so close, he even knew his parents well. Yunho lets the provocation roll off of him, but internally, he can feel anger bubbling up. For now, he’s got everything under control. He’s gotten used to Seonghwa’s digs because even though he knows he can’t win Hongjoong back, he can and will try and frustrate Yunho as much as possible.

“Or maybe we’ll find a portal to a new world,” San suggest with excitement.

Wooyoung laughs. “Don’t be silly, Sannie. Things like that don’t exist.”

“Just like how merpeople don’t exist?”

Seonghwa, Hongjoong and Yunho start their mission a couple of hours before noon. They evidently have the largest space to search through, so they’d do better starting early. Yunho’s not sure how he’s going to live through hours of Seonghwa’s comments without committing a crime, but he’s counting on Hongjoong for being his anchor here.

“Have we found out the meaning of ‘forest of endless green waves’ yet?” Seonghwa asks as they make their way from the beach to the trees standing close to each other.

“Doesn’t it just mean a big forest?” Yunho retorts, keeping the bite out of his voice as much as possible in order to not arouse a conflict between the two of them.

Seonghwa makes a thoughtful face. “I’m not sure, I have the feeling there’s more to it. It’d be too simple.”

A counter is laying on the tip of his tongue, but he refrains. For Hongjoong. (And his own well-being because Seonghwa looks he could beat him up like it’s nothing.)

They walk through the forest disoriented, looking for anything out of the ordinary, an eye-catcher, something that’s so obviously meant to be found by them. But they’re without results and also running out of time on top of that.

When Hongjoong suggests digging up the dirt, Yunho almost sends him back to calm down. Judging by Seonghwa’s expression, he’s thinking the same.

“Hongjoong, relax,” Yunho says with a soothing voice. “You’re going to go insane. I know how important this is to you, but obsessing over finding something won’t help any of us.”

Seonghwa joins him. “Do you really think your dad would have buried something here at a random place? We’ll find something, I promise you. But you really need to calm down now.” That finally makes Hongjoong take a deep breath.

Then he wordlessly walks off to continue his search.

“He’s so stubborn,” Yunho laughs, looking after him with an idiotic smile.

“Stop acting as if you know him,” Seonghwa hisses. “Because you don’t. You’ve known him for a month, that’s it.”

The hot bubbling inside Yunho is back, and the threat of it spilling over grows with every passing second that Seonghwa is next to him. It’s so irritating how he and Seonghwa get along so well (for their standards at least) and the next second he’s Seonghwa’s biggest enemy.

“Why does that mean I can’t know him well?” he bites back. “We’ve spent a lot of time together and got to know each other. And I might not know his parents, but that doesn’t have anything to say about how well we know each other.”

“Yunho, be honest, do you really think you’re good enough for him?”

Yunho almost jumps at his throat. “Who are you to decide over his life?”

“I know, I can’t change the past, and I know nothing’s gonna happen between us anymore. I’m not delusional. But that doesn’t mean I can’t worry and care about him, and I’m getting sick thinking about you two together.”

“You may want to start taking some of your medicine because we won’t leave each other any time soon,” Yunho retaliates.

“Who do you think you are that you can just walk into his life and mess with him like that.” Seonghwa is now full-on glaring at Yunho with narrowed eyes like Yunho is something disgusting he despises with every part of his body.

“Do you think I’m just playing with his feelings? Do you think I’m pretending to love him and then leave him?”

Yunho doesn’t miss the way Seonghwa flinches at the word ‘love’.

“Frankly, yes, that’s exactly what I’m worried about,” Seonghwa admits. The poisonous bite in his words has long disappeared.

“I’m not doing that, for your information. Hongjoong has already chosen me, and there’s nothing you can do to change that.”

“Is the concept of me making my own decisions so hard for you two?” Hongjoong suddenly disappears next to them, glaring them down. Never in his short time in Hongjoong’s life has Yunho seen him so _furious_ at anyone, and the fact that he’s the reason for Hongjoong’s anger makes him hate himself.

“He started—”

Hongjoong interrupts Yunho. “I don’t want to hear any of this,” he snaps, and Yunho definitely has to get used to this authoritative of Hongjoong. “We’re definitely having a talk when this is over.”

Yunho and Seonghwa bow their heads in shame.

“And while you two were busy fighting, I found something.”

Yunho’s head snaps up. “You did?”

“Well, someone has to be productive.”

He leads them through the forest to a glade. The sun, almost in its zenith, is shining full force down onto the space unguarded by the trees. Looking down, Yunho sees the ground is littered with green flowers, gently swaying in the wind.

“Who said the forest had to consist of trees,” Hongjoong says and winks at Yunho.

“We don’t have a lot of time, so let’s quickly search the place,” Seonghwa says.

The three step forward and kneel down, skimming the ground for anything special. In the end, it’s Hongjoong who makes a triumphant noise and calls them to him.

///

“Are you nervous?” Wooyoung asks San.

San nods. “With everyone being successful, there’s a lot of pressure on me right now.”

Hongjoong strokes his shoulder for comfort. “Don’t worry about it, I’m sure you can do it. Besides, you’re at an advantage because you know what you’re looking for.”

The others hum in agreement.

Wooyoung had been supposed to be the only one accompanying him, but the others couldn’t contain their excitement and insisted on joining them. Even Mingi, who yawns the whole time and keeps declaring how he’ll sleep for a decade straight. So now, they’re all sitting in a small boat, in front of the giant rocks. The sun is low but hasn’t started to set yet. San’s getting more nervous every time he looks at the sun to see it’s gotten even lower. “Can I see them one more time?”

Hongjoong fishes them out of a small bag and lays them in San’s hand. San lets his fingers glide over the smooth surface of the stones. They’re ovals with rounded corners, a dark grey at colour. “So I just have to find the remaining third one and they’ll open something?” San asks for the twentieth time.

“That’s our best guess,” Hongjoong shrugs.

“I think you better get going,” Wooyoung says, looking at the sun with a worried expression.

San nods. Even though it’s not even close as warm as it was a few hours prior, he is sweating like crazy. That makes him look forward to jumping into the water and getting to cool down. The remaining part of it, not so much.

He takes off his shoes, pants and shirt—the others shield their eyes which San is eternally grateful for—and he jumps into the water. It doesn’t take long and he’s in his natural form.

He raises himself up, pulling himself up on the bed with his arms to have a last conversation with the rest of the crew before he’ll start his mission. The final mission.

“This is _so_ cool,” Mingi says, daring to take a peek at San’s blood-red tail.

San swishes it in the water for good measure and chuckles at Mingi’s exaggerated reaction.

“You can do it, San. Don’t stress yourself too much,” Wooyoung tells him and takes his wet hand in his dry one.

“I’ll try not to,” replies San honestly. He waves at them and then dives into the water, just in time with the sun is starting to kiss the water.

The opening in the rock isn’t far but San swims at full muscle capacity, too afraid to lose any precious time. By the time he’s swum through the entrance, the water has started to change as well. When he reaches the lagoon, the water is almost fully golden.

San swims up to the surface and sees that it consists of a dry part as well, and at the side, he sees another entrance. At the end of the lagoon, there’s a stone wall with three similar pits hollowed into it, and San doesn’t need to be as smart as Seonghwa or Jongho to know that they’re supposed to put the stones there. There’s also an opening at the roof of the stone construct, which would let in the sunlight during the day.

He thinks back at his mission and comes to the conclusion that he’ll find the third stone underwater. So he dives underwater again and begins searching. He reckons the light plays an important role, so there must be some hint that’s only visible during this time of the day.

Black stone catches his eye. There are tiny crystals all over the surface, even more prominent in the breathtaking light of the setting sun, making them stand out from the remaining rocks. San takes that chance and swims closer, looking for an opening or something where the stone could be hidden.

His heart is beating like crazy and his gills are frantically trying to compensate.

San can’t thank the gods often enough when his fingers touch the telling soft surface of his desired object. He takes it gently, kissing it in his over-joy. Then he swims back to the others in record time. If he were on land, he’d probably be tripping over his feet.

“You’ve found it!” Hongjoong exclaims and he glows at San. He takes the stone in his hand and puts it to the two other ones in his bag.

San partially raises himself out of the water, supporting his weight with his arms over the edge of the boat. The sun is still in the process of setting.

“I think I’ve found a door or something like that what we need the stones for,” San tells them, slightly out of breath. “It’s in the lagoon, but there’s also an entrance from the island. I think you’ll find it when you see it.”

Hongjoong nods. “Then let’s not waste too much time. We’ll meet each other there.”

San salutes and retreats into the water. From the underside, he sees the boat rowing to the shore. He takes his time swimming back to the lagoon because he knows the others will take longer than him. He admires the view from down here, the golden light giving the underwater flora a magical aura, and San understands why his ancestors have been so obsessed with it. The algae sway gently with the waves, small fish appear from under the rocks and corals. San loves it, and he hopes he’ll be able to share this view with someone one day.

When he arrives in the lagoon, he’s still alone. He shifts into his human form, and it doesn’t take long until the others arrive as well. Wooyoung hands San his dry clothes and then they’re all staring at the wall.

“We just need to insert the stones, right?” Hongjoong asks, and for the first time that day, he sounds unsure.

“That’s the most logical thing,” Yeosang agrees.

The eight of them hold their breath as Hongjoong slowly, with shaking hands, inserts them, one stone at a time. But nothing happens. Hongjoong starts to panic. He tries different combinations of the stones, which doesn’t make sense because they all look identical. Hongjoong is on the verge of tears.

Yunho takes him to the side and tries to calm him down.

“This doesn’t make sense,” Seonghwa mumbles. He steps forward and lets his fingers glide over the solid stone.

Suddenly, Jongho has an idea. “Hold on,” he makes, catching everyone’s attention in no time. “Think about it; the first thing was sunrise, then noon, and it all ended with the sunset. There’s only one thing missing to complete the cycle.”

Hongjoong catches on. “Moonrise! That was also the key to reading the map.

San looks up to the opening of the cave. It doesn’t only let sunlight in, but also the moonlight.

Granted, they have no guarantee for their theory, but it’s definitely worth a shot. So they all sit down on the ground and wait for the moon to shine through the roof. No one says a thing with how nervous they all are, and San is honestly surprised at how no one goes insane after an hour of silently waiting.

Eventually, the moon does shine through the opening, and the rays hit the stones in the wall. They’re all back on their feet immediately, waiting for what’s about to happen next. And suddenly, there’s movement in the wall. It slowly slides to the side, revealing a hidden room behind.

San knows, they have all expected a chamber full of gold and gems, but with how high their expectations had been, they’ve kind of had it coming that the revelation of the room is the opposite. Not exactly the opposite; there is a small chest in the middle of the room. It goes about up to San’s shins.

Hongjoong is the one who opens it (San is glad they don’t have to find another key as it’s not locked), and would you look at that, there _are_ gold and gems inside.

“I’m going to be honest, this isn’t what I imagined ‘endless worth’ to look like,” Mingi admits, speaking out what everyone’s been thinking.

Hongjoong gracelessly sits on the ground. He looks sad, disappointed. “Did I really take seven other people with me for _this_?” he wonders out loud. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m really thankful for this, and my father surely must have worked hard, but—”

They all understand him, but no one dares to say a thing, so they just sit down on the ground, around Hongjoong. Some pat his arm as they show their condolences for this disappointing outcome of the treasure hunt. “Maybe there’s something more hidden behind one of these walls?” Wooyoung tries, but Jongho shakes his head, saying he’s already checked every part of this cave four times.

“Thanks, guys, for staying with me, and I’m sorry this isn’t what you expected. Looks like you won’t be able to buy yourself an island, Yeosang.” Hongjoong sniffles.

Mingi shakes his head violently. “Don’t be silly, Hongjoong. Just because we didn’t find tonnes of gold here doesn’t mean it was all useless. You’ve finally solved the riddle that’s been keeping you up for so long. You even made me get up early in the morning; no one has ever done that before you.”

Hongjoong sniffles even louder this time, but now he’s also smiling up at Mingi. The younger leans forward and hugs Hongjoong awkwardly.

That’s when San gets it. Oh, God, how blind have they been. “Who said endless worth has to be something material?”

The majority is still struggling to make sense of what San’s implying, but Yeosang gets it, and he elaborates. “Think about what we had to do to get here; the decoding of the map, the missions. They’re all pretty much impossible when you’re on your own.”

Now Jongho also gets it. “Hongjoong, I think your dad wanted to make sure you’d find friends, and I mean _good friends_ you could count on to stay with you through thick and thin. Without someone by your side, you wouldn’t be here. Friendship is the treasure you’d find here, and it’s truly the most precious thing in the world.” San sees how he’s wincing at his own words and how cheesy they sound, but he knows he's doing it for Hongjoong.

Hongjoong is overwhelmed, and he can’t even make a sound. He stares at the seven with an open mouth, his eyes watering up again.

Mingi yells “Group hug!”.

///

Seonghwa’s worrying his bottom lip with his teeth and continuously brushes through his hair. He’s watching Yunho and Hongjoong sit together on the edge of the lagoon’s stone, their legs dangling in the water and they talk and laugh together.

Without overthinking too much, he walks up to them and taps Yunho’s shoulder. “Can we talk?”

Yunho looks confused but he agrees without too much hesitation. “Sure.”

They go to the hidden room. Yunho looks at Seonghwa with big eyes, clearly waiting for him to say the first thing.

“I wanted to apologise,” Seonghwa says then. “Not only for today but for all the times I’ve treated you unfairly. I was letting myself be led by my emotions and I know now how wrong it was.”

Yunho nods and offers a smile. “It’s okay, Seonghwa. I understand how hard it must have been for you. And I wasn’t entirely innocent either, and I didn’t pay attention to your feelings as much as I should have.”

Seonghwa lets out a relieved gush of air that he’d been holding for too long. He’s so glad Yunho is understanding of him and accepts the apology. “And what I said about you not deserving Hongjoong earlier today; that was really low of me, and I hope you know I didn’t mean it. Hongjoong clearly likes you as much as you like him, and I’m sure you will make him happy.”

Yunho opens his mouth but Seonghwa isn’t finished yet.

“But if you hurt him in any way, I’ll make sure you regret. He deserves the best things only, and I won’t let you not give him just that.” It hurts, fully letting go of Hongjoong. But Seonghwa knows he has to, and as he has said himself, Hongjoong deserves happiness, and he knows this is the only way he’ll be able to make Hongjoong happy.

“I promise,” Yunho says sincerely and Seonghwa believes him.

They smile each other, both equally happy they could finally get rid of all the negative energy between them.

///

“This was really an unexpected turn of events, huh?”

Hongjoong and Yunho are sitting on the top of the cave, legs dangling off the cliff, so close to each other that their bodies are almost touching but not quite. Hongjoong still feels the body heat radiating off Yunho’s body in waves.

San and Mingi are playing catch in water and the others have lit a bonfire and sit around it, taking a moment to relax. Hongjoong ignores the way Seonghwa keeps peering up to the two of them.

“Yunho, stop trying to make small talk to delay me telling you off for earlier.”

“But I already said I’m sorry,” Yunho pouts because he knows Hongjoong can’t stay mad at him when he’s doing that. Hongjoong tries immensely hard to stay strong.

“I’m just so tired of you two constantly bickering and fighting as if I’m an object you can just toss around,” he says. “’Hongjoong wants this’, ‘No, Hongjoong said that’. It’s so tiring.”

Yunho drops the pout in the favour of actually looking sorry. “I didn’t realise it affected you so much. I’m sure, you don’t want to hear my excuses, but I really hope you know I don’t mean it like that. You mean so much more to me.”

Hongjoong pretends to think about it, just to keep him on the hook for a bit longer. “Fine, I forgive you. But I don’t know if I’ll be that generous the next time.”

“And if it makes you feel better, Seonghwa and I sorted things out—with _words_ , not our fists, calm down.”

It makes Hongjoong feel better. By a lot. He nods and gives Yunho a thumbs up.

Yunho lets out a breath of relief. He scoots closer to Hongjoong, and their thighs are now touching, their fingers centimetres apart.

Hongjoong still has a burning question on his tongue, and he decides, it’s now or never. “Do you really not remember anything you said that night we got drunk together?”

“Why do you keep asking that? Did I say something so memorable?”

“Yes, you kind of did.”

“Whatever it was, I didn’t mean it. Except if it’s true, then I did mean it.”

Hongjoong laughs at his antics, and that puts him at ease as well. He asks in a much calmer voice, “What did I tell you?”

Honestly, Hongjoong blushes just thinking about it. His chest feels _so warm_ and his heart is expanding in his ribcage. “You, um, you told me you. . . loved me.”

Yunho’s eyes grow bigger as his face is pulled up into a grimace and Hongjoong is about to jump off the cliff in an instant. Almost too late, Yunho’s catches on and he takes Hongjoong’s hands as if he knows about his sudden self-destructive thoughts.

“It’s not what you think, Hongjoong.” Hongjoong adverts his look from the depth of the cliff to the depth of Yunho’s eyes. “I didn’t want to tell you when I was _drunk_ , you know. Now I don’t even know how you reacted. Oh my God, I hope you said it back.”

“So, it’s true then?”

Yunho’s big hand cups his cheek, and that makes it impossible for him to look away. “Of course, it is. I love you, Hongjoong.”

Hongjoong almost starts crying on the spot. He’s not exaggerating when he says this is all he ever wanted ever since he’s met Yunho for the first time in that shabby jail cell. “I love you, even more, Yunho.”

“You wanna know something funny?”

“Hm?”

“I’m gonna kiss you now.”

“Took you long enough.”

Okay, so, maybe they’re not watching the sunset together, and bask in the soft light—though, Hongjoong’s sure the sun will rise pretty soon—but, admittedly, this is even better than the scenarios Hongjoons’s sketching out in his head when he’s just, staring. He hasn’t misheard Yunho that time in his quarters and hearing him say it again, with honesty and unslurred words—it makes Hongjoong fall deeper into the abyss that is Yunho with his soft eyes and sun-bright smile.

They separate and Hongjoong dares a look down to where the others are cheering and giving them thumbs up—yes, even Seonghwa. His heart swells looking at them, his closest friends, his _family._

Hongjoong’s heart is the most content it’s ever been.

They’re taking the chest out of the cave and carry it onto the ship, when San trips and sends the chest flying, with all its contents scattering everywhere on the ground. The younger is apologising without taking a break to breathe, but Hongjoong doesn’t pay attention to him. He kneels down and takes a piece of paper in his hand that has fallen out.

_Hongjoong,_

_I hope you’re reading this someday._

_I love you, and I will always do so._

_Dad_

December, 2019

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- thank you so much for reading it really means a lot to me! <3  
> \- also big mwah to those who commented such nice things ily  
> \- i've worked really hard for this story in terms of coming up with the storyline, but also not hard enough for it to be extraordinarily good lol. i've always had the end planned out, and the scenes leading to this very moment were kind of vague, and most of the time, i just let the words flow, and it was a really fun experience  
> \- i also probably didn't spell-check enough, but i'm honestly just glad i can post the last part and be done with it you know ?  
> \- feel free to check out my other content as well if you'd like  
> \- i really liked this au but i literally cannot say if i will eXpLoRe it any further or not, because chances are i'll just abandon it like everything else i write ngl  
> \- so, tell me your opinions and have a great day!! xx


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